Girolamo Aleandro, or Aleander, was born at Motta in Venetian territory and became one of the best Greek scholars of his generation. He lodged with Erasmus at the Aldine press in Venice, taught at Paris, where he was rector of the university in 1513, and in 1519 was made librarian of the Vatican.

In 1520 Leo X sent him as nuncio to the young Charles V to enforce the bull Exsurge Domine. He had Luther’s books burned at Louvain, Liège, Cologne, and Mainz, and at the Diet of Worms he worked tirelessly to have Luther condemned without a hearing. On February 13, 1521, he addressed the diet for three hours:¹

Let Luther’s doctrine be interdicted throughout the empire: let his writings be everywhere burnt. Fear not: there is enough in the writings of Luther to burn a hundred thousand heretics.¹ Girolamo Aleandrobefore the Diet of Worms, February 13, 1521

Aleander failed to prevent Luther’s appearance, but he wrote the Edict of Worms, which declared Luther an outlaw and ordered his books destroyed. He served as nuncio again in Germany and the Netherlands, became Archbishop of Brindisi in 1524 and a cardinal in 1538, and died at Rome on February 1, 1542.

Catholic Opponents