Among these Christian humanists it will suffice to quote Rudolph Agricola (Huysmann) of Holland, who zealously promoted the study of classics in Germany; Vittorino da Feltre, who organized a school of classical learning at Mantua, Italy, and desired his pupils to receive Holy Communion every month; Aleandro Girolamo, professor and Inter rector of the University of Paris, and afterwards papal nuncio in Germany; Cardinal Sadoleto, who as poet, orator, theologian, and philosopher was in the foremost rank of his time; Vida, the author of the Christian epic "Christias" and of "De Arte Poetica"; Pico delta Mirandola, poet and Christian apologist; Alexander Hegius of Westphalia, priest and founder of a classical school in Holland; Blessed Thomas More, knight. Lord Chancellor of England, author and martyr; Blessed Cardinal Fisher, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Bishop of Rochester, and martyr; Vives, the Spanish philosopher, author of a great variety of works; Cleynaerts, the Belgian priest, Orientalist, and missionary among the Mohammedans.

But it was in Rome, about all other places, that Catholic leaders guided the intellectual movement in the right direction, making the Renaissance an auxiliary of Christianity. The names of Pius II, Nicholas V, Julius II, and Leo X summarize the history of the most powerful patronage accorded to literature, art, and science in the history of our race. These pontiffs were surrounded by the most glorious phalanx of artists with the peerless Bramante, the world-renowned Michelangelo, and the divine Raphael at their head. These names recall the Dome of St. Peter's, the Sistine Chapel, the Stanze and the Loggie of the Vatican, productions unsurpassed in the history of art. The Popes of the Renaissance kept Christianity abreast of the enlightenment of their age, and placed on the brow of the Church a new tiara, a threefold crown of science, art, and poetry, whose lustre is not likely to fade.

KURTH, trans. DAY, The Church at the Turning Points of History; IDEM. Les Origines de la Civilisation Moderne, Manuel d'Histoire Universelle.

VICTOR DAY.

The Catholic Encyclopedia: an International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church, Volume XVII - Supplement I. New York: The Encyclopedia Press, Inc., 1922.

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