Between Genoa and Milan: Giovanni Maria Visconti and His Hagiography of Anton Giulio Brignole Sale (1666)

Abstract Giovanni Maria Visconti, member of a prominent family of the Milanese patriciate, had an important career in his order as a teacher and spiritual director, and a valuable role in the internal government of the Society, between Milan and Genoa. After the death of Anton Giulio Brignole Sale, he was charged by his superiors with the task of writing a hagiographic biography of this famous man of letters and politician (son of a Genoese duke) who, after a long cursus honorum in the public offices of his republic and during a period of political crisis of the Genoese state, decided to end his career to become a diocesan priest, and, some years later, a member of the Society of Jesus. The work was published in 1666, with the title Alcune memorie delle virtù del padre Anton Giulio Brignole (Some memoirs of the virtues of Father Anton Giulio Brignole). It is an interesting book especially because the author, while describing Brignole Sale’s life and heroic virtues, also explained his transformation from the role of Catholic statesman to the role of religious preacher.