A Gloss on Contagion: Juan de Pineda Reads Francesco Zorzi

The Jesuite Juan de Pineda, in his lenghty book about King Solomon, criticises Francesco Zorzi for his attitude towards the double role of king Solomon in the Bible: he is a king but, since he inaugurated the temple, he is also a priest. The lack of separation between the two orders, the political power on the one hand and the priestly dignity on the other, are the origin of pestilence according to Pineda. The lack of separation between state and church, with the negative example, in Pineda's eyes, of the English crown, towards which Zorzi had been favorable at the time of the "king's great matter", is considered by the Jesuite as a factor of disorder and the possible cause of epidemics. The article offers thus one chapter about the reception of Francesco Zorzi's works, permanently listed in the Index librorum expurgandorum, in Catholic thought in the 17th century.