Panormitanus

Panormitanus a surname of Nicolas Tudescus (or de Tudesco, de Tudeschis), a noted Italian prelate. who is so generally known under his surname that we insert him in this place. He was born in 1386 at Catania, in Sicily; in 1400 he entered the Benedictine Order; and in 1414 he became canon in his native city. Later he studied canon law at Bologna, and then taught at the high- schools in Siena, Parma, and Bologna. In 1425 he received from pope Martin V the abbey Maiiacum, near Messina; afterwards he became auditor of the Rota and apostolical referendary at Rome. Alphonso V of Aragon secured his services, and was so well pleased that he caused him to be elevated to the archbishopric of Palermo, and sent as legate to the council at Basle. In this celebrated ecclesiastical gathering Panormitanus was at first a devoted advocate of pope Eugenius IV; but when, in 1437, the council was moved to Ferrara for the obvious purpose of strengthening the papal interest, Panormitanus. ever anxious for the right use of power, forsook the papal side, and advocated the superiority of the council over the pope. In 1440 the antipope Felix II conferred on Panormitanus the cardinal's hat, and employed him as iegatus a latere at Mayence in 1441, and Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1442. In 1443, when king Alphonso made peace with pope Eugenius, Panormitanus was recalled from the council. He died shortly after at Palermo, in 1443 or 1445. He wrote a Commentary to the Decretals of Gregory IX and the Clementines, which is highly prized; also a justification of the Basle Council, which Gerbais translated into French in 1677, in the interest of Gallicanism. (J. H. W.)