Bernardino Ochino’s Exile and the Composition of an International Reformation

Bernardino Ochino was one of the most celebrated Italian Catholic preachers of the sixteenth century—until the Roman Inquisition forced him into exile. But rather than silencing him, displacement granted Ochino an unprecedented platform: unimpeded access to the printing press and the ability to spread his ideas across Europe.

In this groundbreaking study, Andrea Beth Wenz reexamines Ochino’s vast body of vernacular writings, challenging conventional portrayals of him as a wandering heretic. Instead, she reveals how his mobility allowed him to become a central figure in the international Protestant Reformation. By moving Ochino from the margins of Reformation history to its core, Wenz complicates traditional distinctions between magisterial and radical reformers. She explores how his works—printed in nine languages—reached a diverse audience and how his pastoral vision resonated across linguistic and geographical boundaries. Situating Ochino’s life within broader discussions of religious exile, migration, and the power of print, this book offers fresh insight into the dynamics of sixteenth-century religious change.

Bringing to the fore Ochino’s significance and that of Italian reform more widely, Bernardino Ochino’s Exile and the Composition of an International Reformation will appeal to scholars of the Reformation, exile studies, and the history of the book.

“By focusing on the freedom that his exile from Italy afforded him—to write, teach and preach openly—Wenz reveals fascinating new insights about Ochino and his Reformation-era theological networks, both in print and in person.”—Jane K. Wickersham, author of Rituals of Prosecution: The Roman Inquisition and the Prosecution of Philo-Protestants in Sixteenth-Century Italy

Andrea Beth Wenz is Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Oakland University.

History

           Early Modern

           European

           History of Religion

Medieval and Early Modern Studies

           Early Modern History

           Early Modern Religion