Gregorio Panzani

Gregorio Panzani(died 1662) was anItalianCatholicpriest, who becameBishop of Miletoand a papal emissary to England during the reign of KingCharles I of England.

Life

Gregorio Panzani received a Doctoratein utroque iure(in both civil law and canon law) at the Archiginnasio di Roma on 7 March 1625.He joined theCongregation of the Oratory,becoming a priest, but, on account of ill-health, he resigned and became a secular priest of the diocese ofArezzo.In 1634 he was chosen by CardinalAntonio Barberinifor the important and delicate task of a secret agency inLondon.He is described by the writer of his memoirsas a man:

...of experienced virtue, of singular address, of polite learning and in all respects well qualified for the business.

Barberini was keen to gain more information about the progress of Catholics in England and Panzani's commission was to gain first-hand information as to the state of English Catholics. English Catholics were then much divided on the question of the oath of allegiance and the appointment of avicar Apostolicand moves were afoot to settle the differences that had arisen on these points between the seculars and regulars and to establish informal relations between Barberini's unclePope Urban VIIIand the Government.

Panzani himself realized that the appointment of a bishop was necessary, and he resented the efforts of theJesuitsto hinder this. Though he was successful in reconciling seculars with theBenedictinesand other Catholics, the Jesuits were left out of the settlement, and Panzani's subsequent efforts to bring them in were fruitless.

Panzani had repeated interviews withWindebankandLord Cottington,the secretaries of state, enjoyed (like Rossetti) the confidence of the Queen,Henrietta Maria,and was admitted to secret audience withKing Charles.He was also in communication withRichard Montagu,the AnglicanBishop of Chichesteron the subject of corporate reunion.

He was recalled at the end of the year 1636 when a scheme of reciprocal agencywas established betweenPope Urban VIIIand the Queen. Returning to Rome he was made a canon ofS. Lorenzo in Damaso,and obtained a judicial position in the civil courts. On 13 August 1640, he was electedBishop of Mileto,in theProvince of Catanzaro.

Account of his mission

An account of his English mission was written in Italian by someone who had access to his papers, and a copy of this was used byCharles Dodd,who, however, thought it imprudent to publish these memoirs in full. But in 1793,Joseph Beringtonpublished a translation of them with an historical introduction and supplement. Their authenticity was immediately called in question byCharles Plowden,who regarded them as a forgery by Dodd. The subsequent researches byM. A. Tierney,however, conclusively provedthat theMemoirswere genuine. The original manuscript, then in the possession of CardinalFilippo Antonio Gualterio,was purchased by theBritish Museumin 1854 (Add. Manuscripts 15389).

External links

• The Memoirs of Gregorio Panzani; giving an account of his agency in England (1788).

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Gregorio Panzani".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.