View source for Gian Matteo Giberti

{{Short description|Italian diplomat and bishop}}
{{No footnotes|date=July 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
[[Image:GianMatteoGiberti.jpg|thumb|200px|{{center|'''Gian Matteo Giberti<BR>(1495–1543)'''}}]]
'''Gian Matteo Giberti''' (20 September 1495 – 30 December 1543) was an Italian diplomat, [[Bishop of Verona]].

==Biography==
Born at [[Palermo]], he was the natural son of Francesco Giberti, a Genoese naval captain. In 1513 he was admitted to the household of Cardinal [[Pope Clement VII|Giulio de' Medici]], and advanced so rapidly in Latin and Greek that he soon became an eminent member of the [[Academia Romana (Italy)|Academia Romana]]. Later he was appointed the cardinal's secretary, and [[Pope Leo X]], with whom he had political dealings, valued his opinions and advice.

In 1521 he was chief intermediary with the envoy of [[Emperor Charles V]]. He used his influence over the pope to protect and help struggling [[Intellectual#Man of Letters|men of letters]]. He led a severely religious life, and was a member of the [[Oratory of Divine Love]] (Sodalitium Divini Amoris) of [[St. Cajetan]] and [[Pope Paul IV|Cardinal Carafa]] (future pope Paul IV). After his ordination to the priesthood, and the death of Leo X, he was sent by Cardinal Giulio, his patron, on a mission to Charles V, and returned to Rome with the new pope, [[Adrian VI]].

[[Pope Clement VII]], immediately after his election, made him [[Datario]] (1523), and in 1524, at the request of the [[Doge of Venice]], he was appointed Bishop of Verona. Being obliged, against his will, to remain in Rome, he had himself represented at Verona by a [[vicar-general]].

Giberti was chosen a member of the [[Consilium de Emendanda Ecclesia]], the reform committee decreed by Paul III, but political events soon put an end to these labours. At [[Pavia]] (1525) he tried to make peace between [[Francis I of France]] and Charles V. It was at his prompting that Clement VII espoused the cause of France; the [[League of Cognac]] (22 May 1526) was also his work.

After the [[sack of Rome (1527)|Sack of Rome]] (1527) he was put in prison and barely escaped death. He succeeded in making his escape, and went to [[Verona]] (1528) intending to devote himself to his [[diocese]]. He was done with politics, all the more because the pope had gone over to the imperial cause. However, he appeared from time to time in the [[Curia]]. [[Pope Paul III]] recalled him to Rome for the work of the Reform Committee; among other missions he was sent to [[Trento|Trent]] to make preparations for the [[Council of Trent|council]].

His efforts to reform his diocese, whose clergy were in a deplorable state, were crowned with success. The Tridentine reforms were put in force long before the council assembled. [[St. Charles Borromeo]], before taking charge of his [[episcopal see|see]] at [[Milan]], wished to study Giberti's system at Verona, and chose as his vicar-general a priest from Verona trained in Giberti's school.

His first aim was to improve the standard of ecclesiastical knowledge. In his own palace he set up a printing-press which turned out numerous editions of the [[Greek Fathers]], in whose writings he was very learned. He reformed the choir-school of Verona; for the instruction of the young he had printed the [[catechism]] known as ''Dialogus'', the work of [[Tullio Crispoldi]] (1539).

At Verona, moreover, he gathered around him a group of learned men to assist him in his efforts at reform. His complete works were edited by the scholars [[Girolamo and Pietro Ballerini]] (''Constitutiones Gibertinae'', ''Costituzioni per le Monache'', ''Monitiones generales'', ''Edicta Selecta'',  ''Lettere Scelte'', 1733, 1740), together with an appendix containing the story of his life, a ''Dissertatio de restitutâ ante concilium Tridentinum per Jo. Matth. Giberti ecclesiasticâ disciplina'', and two panegyrics.

==External links and additional sources==
*{{Cite web|last=Cheney |first=David M.|title=Diocese of Verona |website=[[Catholic-Hierarchy.org]]|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dvero.html |accessdate=15 June 2018}} (for Chronology of Bishops) [[Wikipedia:SPS|{{sup|[''self-published'']}}]]
*{{Cite web|last=Chow |first=Gabriel|title=Diocese of Verona |website=GCatholic.org|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/vero0.htm|accessdate=15 June 2018}} (for Chronology of Bishops) [[Wikipedia:SPS|{{sup|[''self-published'']}}]]
*{{cite web|last=Cheney |first=David M.|title=Nunciature to Venice |website=[[Catholic-Hierarchy.org]]|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dx961.html|accessdate=16 June 2018}} [[Wikipedia:SPS|{{sup|[''self-published'']}}]]
*{{CathEncy|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06549d.htm|title=Gian Matteo Giberti}}

==References==
* {{CE1913|wstitle=Gian Matteo Giberti}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{succession box
| title  = [[Bishop of Verona]]
| years  = 1524–1543
| before = [[Marco Cornaro (cardinal)]]
| after  = [[Pietro Lippomano]]}}
{{succession box
| title  = [[Bishop of Lodève]]
| years  = 1526–1528
| before = [[René du Puy]]
| after  = [[Laurent Toscani]]}}
{{succession box
| title  = [[Apostolic Nuncio to Venice]]
| years  = 1534–1537
| before = [[Girolamo Aleandro]]
| after  = [[Girolamo Verallo]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giberti, Gian Matteo}}
[[Category:1495 births]]
[[Category:1543 deaths]]
[[Category:Clergy from Palermo]]
[[Category:Bishops of Lodève]]
[[Category:Bishops of Verona]]
[[Category:Apostolic nuncios to the Republic of Venice]]
[[Category:16th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Republic of Venice]]