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The position of the church on prophets and prophecy in the sixteenth century is important for understanding prophecy and prophetic authority. According to Mayer, "the church's dependence on prophecy and revelation ran right to the very top." Sill, prophecy was a touchy subject in the sixteenth century church. For prophets, "ecclesiastical machinery was an encumbrance and its offices an offence to God, if meanwhile the actual human situation and urgent moral issues were ignored." The church could not excommunicate all contemporary prophets because the church was to a large extent founded on prophecy. On the other hand, people who claimed direct revelation from God were a threat to the church as an institution. The church's standpoint on prophecy was spelled out in the Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517). The council's final decree on preaching and prophecy, the Supernae majestatis praesidio, addressed the issue of clerics who claimed revelation from God. According to this decree, clerics were forbidden "to predict in their sermons any fixed time of future evils, of Antichrist's coming, or the day of Last Judgement." Predictions were also not to be based on interpretations of scripture or "foolish divinations." To prevent the spread of false prophecies, the decree set up a method of examination for clergy before they were allowed to prophesy. The Supernae majestatis praesidio did not ban all prophets. In fact, "far from inhibiting all prophecy, the decree openly acknowledged its legitimacy and utility." It is within these contexts that we must examine Reginald Pole's creation of a prophetic identity.

Pole and Vittoria Colonna

One of the many people who firmly believed in Pole as a prophet was the famous Renaissance poet, Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547). Colonna came from one of the oldest and wealthiest of Roman aristocratic families. The Colonnas had a tradition of close ties with the papacy; Pope Martin V (1417-1431) was a Colonna. Vittoria Colonna, a widow at age thirty-three, had an intense personal spirituality which brought her into contact with many of the most passionate spirituals of the day. She believed strongly in the necessity of reforming the Catholic Church and aligned herself with like-minded individuals. In addition to Pole, she associated with other persons often classified as spirituali including Gasparo Contarini, Giovanni Morone, Marcantonio Flaminio, Bernardino Ochino, and Alvise Priuli. According to Elisabeth Gleason, who wrote a recent biography of Gasparo Contarini, spirituali "referred to the juxtaposition of carnal and spiritual man, but could also be used in an ideological and political sense as well." The spirituali, which included Pole, hoped for a reconciliation with the Protestants and were known as ardent reformers.

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