VAlmost a miraculous purchase of a book called Secretarii actiones or Writings of the Pope's Secretary took place in the Swiss antique shop in Zurich. Foto: Arhiv RTV SLO
VAlmost a miraculous purchase of a book called Secretarii actiones or Writings of the Pope's Secretary took place in the Swiss antique shop in Zurich. Foto: Arhiv RTV SLO

A little-known work by the Koper-based humanist and bishop, who later became a Protestant writer of more than 160 works, is entitled Actiones duae secretarii pontificii and was written in 1556. It opens up questions related to the Tridentine Council. The debate is a contemplation whether Pope Paul IV should think about the re-convening of the Tridentine Council and whether it can then impose the conclusions of the Council on the protesters with weapons. Vergerij's Writings of the Pope's Secretary are a little known and overlooked work in Slovenia. Until the purchase made by the Srečko Vilhar Library in Koper, there was no copy.

"He was an extremely important humanist thinker who cannot be called a Slovenian humanist thinker because he belonged to an Italian aristocratic family called Vergeri, to which Peter Pavel Vergerij Sr. belonged, too. But we cannot overlook the fact that he was a representative of humanism on the Slovenian soil, a representative of humanism whose life path is extremely interesting," explains Dr. Gregor Pobežin, Associate Professor at the Institute for Cultural History ZRC SAZU and the Faculty of Humanities (University of Primorska), who co-edited a new journal about Peter Pavel Vergerij Jr. and was involved in the purchase of the book.