SARPI, PAOLO

born Aug. 14, 1552, Venice died Jan. 14, 1623, Venice pseudonym Pietro Soave Polano Italian patriot, scholar, and state theologian during Venice's struggle with Pope Paul V. Between 1610 and 1618 he wrote his History of the Council of Trent, an important work decrying papal absolutism. Among Italians, he was an early advocate of the separation of church and state. Additional reading John Leon Lievsay, Venetian Phoenix: Paolo Sarpi and Some of His English Friends (16061700) (1973), explores his position in the controversies between Venice and the papacy. David Wootton, Paolo Sarpi: Between Renaissance and Enlightenment (1983), depicts Sarpi as a secular materialist and atheist and thus an opponent of Rome.