Baranzano, Giovanni Antonio

Baranzano, Giovanni Antonio

(b. Serravalle in Sesia, Vercelli, Italy, 1590; d. Montargis, France, 23 December 1622)

philosophy of astronomy.

Baranzano began his studies at Crevalcuore and Vercelli, and continued them at Novara and Milan. On 11 March 1609 he took his vows as a Barnabite and assumed the name Redento. After finishing his religious and philosophical education, Baranzano Studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldaic. In 1615 he was sent to teach philosophy in Annecy, at the college founded by Eustachio Chappuys. During this period he preached against the Calvinists in Thonon, Geneva, and Béarn.

In 1617 Baranzano published his most important work, Uranoscopia seu De coelo, in which he defended the Copernican system. This book was not well received by the Church, however, and Baranzano was called to Milan by the archbishop to make corrections. It is of some interest that he took with him on this occasion a letter written by his good friend Francis de Sales, testifying to his merits. Indeed, Baranzano clearly had a capacity for progressive thought; only his membership in religious order and the ambient scholastic mentality mad him turn back. Being obliged to withdraw his assertions, he wrote a small tract in which he presented his excuses for having departed ex abundantia cordis of the Scriptures. This was entitled Nova de motu terrae Copernicolo iuxta Summi Pontificis mentem disputatio (1618) and was appended, where possible, to the original Uranoscopia.

It is known that Baranzano had read Patrizi and Telesio, and he seems to have been in contact with Tobia Adami (a pupil of Tommaso Campanella), Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Giovanni Magini. Francis Bacon, aware that Baranzano was the first to oppose Aristotle with the experimental method. wrote him a laudatory letter in 1622.

After the visit to Milan to correct his book, Baranzano was sent again to Annecy. In 1620 he was in Paris to obtain permission for the establishment of a Barnabite College in France. A College had just been founded at Montargis, and Baranzano held a teaching position there until his death, two years later.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Barazano’s writings are Uranoscopia, seu De coelo, in qua universa coelorum doctrina, clare, dilucide et breviter traditur (Coloniae Allobrogum, 1617; 2nd ed., Paris, 1618); Nova de motu terrae Copernicolo iuxta Summi Pontificis mentem disputatio (Coloniae Allobrogum, 1618); Prima summae philosophicae pars, seu Logica clare, breviter et subtiliter explicata (Lyons, 1618), also published in Campus philosophicus (see below); Summa philosophica Anneciacensis, in qua omnes philosophicae quaestiones docte et breviter suo quaeque loco disponuntur (Lyons, 1618), also published in Campus philosophicus; Auscultatoriae disputationes quibus methodice lata corporis naturalis in genere cognitio comprehenditur (Lyons, 1619); Novae opiniones physicae, seu Tomus primus secundae partis Summae philosophicae Anneciacensis et physica auscultatoria octo physicorum libris explanandis accomodata (Lyons, 1619); Campus philosophicus in quo omnes dialecticae questiones breviter, clare et subtiliter suo quaeque loco agitantur (Lyons, 1620); De cometa ad Serenissimum Ducem Sabaudiae; Sur une fontaine de la Roche en Saraye; Sur la manière de se confesser (Brussels, 1621); Sur la manière de mèditer la Passion de J.C. (Brussels, 1621); and Nuova teoria dei pianeti e dei moti celesti and Speculatio de arte militari, both unpublished.

II. Secondary Literature. Works pertaining to Baranzano are Letters and Life of Bacon, J. Spedding, ed., VII (London, 1874), 374–377; G. Boffito, Scrittori barnabiti, I (Florence, 1933), 75–80; G. Colombo, Profili biografici d’insigni barnabiti, I (Crema, 1870), 62, and Intorno alla vita e alle opere del P.R.B. (Turin, 1878); G. De Gregory, Istoria della vercellese letteratura ed arti, II (Turin, 1820), 66; C. Dionisotti, Natizie biografiche dei vercellesi illustri (Biella, 1862), p. 88; C.A. Ducis d’Annecy, Notice sur d. Baranzano, père barnabite, professeur au Collège Chappuysien d’Annecy (Annecy, 1881); Francis de Sales, Oeuvres, VIII (Annecy, 1912), 94, 97, 116; G.M. Mazzucchelli, Gli scrittori d’Italia, II, pt. 1^a (Brescia, 1758), 230 f.; J. P. Niçeron, Mémoires pour servir à I’histoire des hommes illustrés dans la république des lettres, avec un catalogue raisonné de leurs ouvrages, III (Paris, 1727), 43–48; C. R. Pasté, “II p. Giov. Antonio B. vercellese e la questione galileiana,” in Archivio della Società vercellese di storia e d’arte, 13 , nos. 1–2 (1921), 210–216; O. Premoli, Storia dei Barnabiti nel cinquecento, II (Rome, 1913), 72–75; G. Spini, Ricerca dei libertini (Rome-Florence, 1950), p. 310; and L. Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, VII (New York, 1958), 112–114, 286–288.

Maria Luisa Righini-Bonelli