Paolo Sarpi - Early Years

Early Years

He was born Pietro Sarpi in Venice, the son of a tradesman, but was orphaned at an early age. He was educated by his maternal uncle and then Giammaria Capella, a Servite monk. Ignoring the opposition of his remaining family, he entered the Servite order in 1566. He assumed the name of Fra (Brother) Paolo, by which, with the epithet Servita, he was always known to his contemporaries.

Sarpi was assigned to a monastery in Mantua around 1567. In 1570 he sustained theses at a disputation there, and was invited to remain as court theologian to Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga. Sarpi remained four years at Mantua, studying mathematics and oriental languages. He then went to Milan in 1575, where he was an adviser to Charles Borromeo; but was transferred by his superiors to Venice, as professor of philosophy at the Servite convent. In 1579, he became provincial of the Servite order. He went to Rome on business connected with reform of the order, which brought him into close contact with three successive popes, as well as the grand inquisitor and other influential people.

Sarpi returned to Venice in 1588, and passed the next 17 years in study, occasionally interrupted by the internal disputes of his community. In 1601, he was recommended by the Venetian senate for the bishopric of Caorle, but the papal nuncio, who wished to obtain it for a protégé of his own, accused Sarpi of having denied the immortality of the soul and controverted the authority of Aristotle. An attempt to obtain another bishopric in the following year also failed, Pope Clement VIII having taken offence at Sarpi's habit of corresponding with learned heretics.