Challenges to episcopal authority in seventeenth-century Padua

The Decrees of the Council of Trent expanded episcopal authority to ensure bishops would have sufficient power to enact and enforce reforms. Bishops with large dioceses, however, found it difficult to maintain consistent control over all their parishes, which significantly hindered the progress of reform. Like many of his contemporaries, Cardinal-Bishop Gregorio Barbarigo of Padua (bp. 1664-1697) attempted to overcome this challenge through a combination of bureaucratic organization and pastoral visitations, which proved insufficient. Although episcopal authority was theoretically extended over the diocese through his network of vicari foranei, in reality many vicars were inefficient administrators and the lower clergy and laity tended to respect episcopal authority only as embodied in the bishop himself. Barbarigo maintained control when physically present in a parish, but found his authority subverted when he was away, thwarting the progress of reform in Padua. Some of his vicars were simply negligent administrators, but even those who assiduously performed their duties found that Barbarigo’s flock understood episcopal power as personal power, rendering it impossible for him to extend his authority through an abstract bureaucracy