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TO THE MOST LEARNED AND

IN EVERY BRANCH OF LITERATURE

THE MOST ACCOMPLISHED MAN,

To Lord Bernardino of Ianno,

patrician of Parma,

BROTHER ARCHANGELUS,

Friar Minor, sends greetings.

original: "Minorita," referring to the Order of Friars Minor, or Franciscans.

DIVINE providence, reaching all things mightily and disposing them sweetly A paraphrase of Wisdom 8:1, a common theological reference to God's governance of the world, most illustrious Bernardino, has decreed to strengthen holy religion not only with the Prophets and the sacred Christian Doctors; but also to uniquely adorn it by a certain elegant and more secret way of Theology: so that Piety herself, the origin of all good things, might at last walk as securely among all professors of wisdom as she rests safely among those of her own household. For it was necessary that religion (which is the only path to happiness) should be common not only to Christian dogmas, but also to Hebrew ones. With this indeed as a companion and guide, we all may be able to arrive more easily and safely at that blessedness for whose sake we were created, and toward the attainment of which we labor with common zeal. And so God Almighty, at the appointed times, [decreed] the divine