Alessandro Novello ( – February 1320) was the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

bishop of Feltre and Belluno from 1298 until his death. Novello was born at

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

in the early 1250s. His brother Prosapio Novello was the

bishop of Treviso The Diocese of Treviso () is Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the Veneto, Italy. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Patriarchate of Venice. History Treviso pr ...

from 1279. Alessandro entered the Franciscan order at Treviso and served as a papal inquisitor in the

March of Treviso The March of Treviso (, or ) was a medieval territory in Venetia, between the Garda and the Julian March. The territory corresponded roughly to the region around the city of Treviso, including Belluno, Feltre, and Ceneda and the dioceses of a ...

in 1293–1296. He was consecrated bishop of the united dioceses of Belluno and Feltre in Rome on 20 April 1298. Later that year he received from Patriarch

Raimondo della Torre Raimondo della Torre (died 23 February 1299) was an Italian clergyman, who was patriarch of Aquileia from 1273 until his death. Biography By birth member of the House of Della Tore, a Guelph noble family that ruled Milan, he was the son of P ...

investiture with the

temporalities Temporalities or temporal goods are the secular properties and possessions of the church. The term is most often used to describe those properties (a '' Stift'' in German or ''sticht'' in Dutch) that were used to support a bishop or other religious ...

of his double see. Thereafter, he is always designated "bishop and count" in official documents. As bishop, Novello is best remembered for an episode mentioned by

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

in his '' Paradiso'', 9:51–60, the so-called ''difalta'' (error). In July 1314, at the request of Pino della Tosa, the governor of

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

,He was an appointee of King

Robert of Naples Robert of Anjou (), known as Robert the Wise (; 1276 – 20 January 1343), was King of Naples, titular King of Jerusalem and Count of Provence and Forcalquier from 1309 to 1343, the central figure of Italian politics of his time. He was the thir ...

, who was acting as vicar of the

States of the Church The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

. See . Novello handed over some

Ghibelline The Guelphs and Ghibellines ( , ; ) were factions supporting the Pope (Guelphs) and the Holy Roman Emperor (Ghibellines) in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy during the Middle Ages. During the 12th and 13th centu ...

refugees from Ferrara who were under his protection. Antoniolo, Lancilotto and Claruccio da Fontana and their associates, thirty men in total, were publicly beheaded by Della Tosa. Dante puts in the mouth of Cunizza a prophecy of the suffering that will come to

Feltre Feltre (; ) is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Belluno in Veneto, northern Italy. A hill town in the southern reaches of the province, it is located on the Stizzon River, about from its junction with the Piave, and southwest from Bell ...

because of its "wicked shepherd" (''l'empio pastor''). Novello's temporal powers were gradually restricted by the powerful

Da Camino The da Camino (also known as Camino or Caminesi) were an Italy, Italian noble family whose fame is connected to the mediaeval history of the March of Treviso, a city of which they were lords for a while. History Of Lombards, Lombard origin, the da ...

, to the point where in 1318 he abandoned his diocese and took refuge with his nephew Zaffone in Treviso. A late and unreliable tradition claims that he entered the Franciscan convent at

Portogruaro Portogruaro (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy. The city is the centre of a district, made up of 11 ''comuni'', which form the Venezia Orientale with the San Donà di Piave district. History ...

. Giorgio Piloni recorded seeing his tomb and epitaph there in 1607, but it was not there in 1820 and the building was destroyed in 1880. Novello died in February 1320. According to

Benvenuto da Imola Benvenuto Rambaldi da Imola, or simply and perhaps more accurately Benvenuto da Imola (; 1330 – 1388), was an Italian scholar and historian, a lecturer at Bologna. He is now best known for his commentary on Dante's ''Divine Comedy.'' Life ' ...

, he was beaten to death with sacks of sand, such was the enduring hostility for his ''difalta''.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Authority control 1250s births 1320 deaths People from Treviso Inquisitors Franciscan bishops Bishops of Belluno Characters in the Divine Comedy