Sermons

Even more than humanistic oratory, sermons were meant to direct the emotions of listeners. Sixteenth-century sermons that have been published preserve the words of the great preachers of the Renaissance, but not the oratorical fervor with which they were delivered. Egidio da Viterbo (1469-1532), cardinal and humanist, was such a preacher. A member of the Augustinians, he became their prior general. Contemporary accounts of his preaching provide an indication of his rhetorical prowess: “Who else among the multitudes seems so uniquely born to persuade, to win over the minds of the Italians, whose speech is so seasoned with the salt of literary elegance, so that all the sap of content is present in the supreme harmony of his words, and it flows so gently and rhythmically with the pitch and variety of his voice that one seems to hear sounds like that of a plucked lute?” (Rowland 2000, p. 145). As did other members of the itinerant Catholic preaching

Literature and Language

Orders, he preached effectively to mixed audiences, with various rhetorical devices directed to different classes of listeners. Protestant preachers, many of whom were trained as priests or humanists, also used the tools of classical rhetoric to persuade their audiences. Homilies (inspirational sayings) related to biblical verses gave both Catholic and Protestant preachers the opportunity to construct persuasive arguments in understandable, down-to-earth vocabulary.