ZEROLA, Tommasi [with] VISCONTI, Zaccaria

Elegantly bound volume comprising two uncommon first edition treatises connected with the Catholic Jubilee of 1600. Little is known about their authors. Tommaso Zerola (1548-1603) was an acclaimed canon lawyer of Benevento and later bishop of Minori, while Zaccaria Visconti, professional exorcist of the Barnabite Congregation of St Ambrose in Milan and teacher of this art, flourished between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. The first work, dedicated to the pope s nephew Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini, deals extensively with the practice of indulgence or remission of sins a highly relevant topic for pilgrims going to Rome on the occasion of the Holy Year. The second and more curious treatise addresses exorcism, providing the theological and theoretic framework as well as a manual of instruction on techniques, prayers, formulae, rituals and all sorts of remedies to expel the Evil within. As pointed out in the initial dedication, Visconti hoped that his books would help reduce the number of cases of demonic possession recently recorded in the Milanese area.

This copy belonged to the Franciscan convent of Schwaz, in Tyrol, once a prominent silver-mining centre of the Augsburg Empire.