Istruire un santo: Gaetano Thiene allo Studio di Padova di inizio Cinquecento

Saint Gaetano Thiene represents one of the most important profiles connoting the early modern age and yet the tremendous amount of biographical and hagiographical investigation carried out has not dispelled the many doubts concerning certain phases of his life, especially his youth. This essay presents the results of a study looking into those earlier years spent at the Studium of Padua where he is known to have obtained his doctorate in 1504. The extant documents analysed, issued at the beginning of the 16th century by the University and its institutions, clearly state that Gaetano was in Padua well before his degree (1500) and even later (1505). In addition to his own, the noble student attended four other graduation ceremonies in the company of illustrious lecturers and scholars part of distinct social groups. The current essay has carefully investigated such groups shedding new light on both the context in which Gaetano had developed as a young man and how, consequently, he would confront his future life in Rome.