Page 148 - Lanzarotto Malocello from Italy to the Canary Islands

148 from Italy to the Canary Islands

Appendix i

The Malocello family and the Catholic Church

he study of the relationship between the Malocello family and
the Church deserves to be looked into briefly. First of all, Simone
Malocello appears to have been canon of the Cathedral of Genoa,
and the Internet site of the bishopric of Alba in Piedmont carries the infor-
mation according to which the aforesaid Simone was delegated by Pope
Honorius II in 1226 to settle the dispute between the abbot of San Quintino
di Spigno and the archpriest of the Parish of San Michele at Cortemilia, in
the diocese of Alba, concerning the payment of tithes to the latter.
A monumental book printed in Genoa in 1780 with the mile-long ti-
tle: Descrizione delle pitture, sculture, e architetture ecc. che trovansi in
alcune città, borghi, e castelli delle due Riviere dello Stato Ligure qui dis-
posti in ordine alfabetico coll’aggiunta dè saggi cronologici riguardanti il
Dominio tutto della Serenissima Repubblica di Genova [Description of the
pictures, sculptures and architecture, etc., found in certain cities, villages
and castles of the two coastal areas of the State of Liguria, hereby provided
in alphabetical order with the addition of chronological essays on the en-
tire Dominion of the Most Serene Republic of Genoa], contains a list on of
the Bishops of Ventimiglia on page 210, stating “Mons. Pietro Malocello”
in the year 1328; he was a contemporary of our Lanzarotto, and is well
portrayed in another excellent work entitled Storia della città di Ventimi-
glia [History of the City of Ventimiglia] (Girolamo Rossi, Torino 1857,
Tipografia Barera, pages 173-174). The bishop Pietro Malocello took the
bishop’s chair on 6 September 1328; he came from the Dominican Order
th
and was described as “a prelate of sound piety and irreproachable moral-
ity”, governing his diocese until 1345. The Piedmontese author Girolamo
Rossi added that even after his death, he deserved great devotion forever.
Rossi (concluding the two pages on Pietro Malocello, bishop of Ventimi-
glia) added an interesting anecdote aimed at exalting the sanctitude of the
bishop Malocello even in episodes not involving himself personally but
involving his congregation.
The anecdote goes like this: while travelling with his son from Sospetto
to Montone, an inhabitant of Castel Delfino, called Guglielmo Vitrola, was