Opera Quae Reperiri Potuerunt Omnia, Epistolae CXVII. et Colloquia II. cum Anabaptistis, Nunc Primum Edita

Georgius Cassander; George Cassander

Paris. : Abr. Pacard, 1616

[Cassander's Dream: The Failed Reunification of Christianity] Folio; 35 cm. Bound in contemporary vellum.  Yapp edges.  Page ends washed blue.  Engraved portrait of Cassander. [8], 1352, [16] pages.  Title page in red and black, with engraved woodcut vignette. Old dampstain along bottom margin throughout the book. Engraved bookplate of Bibliotheca Orphanotrophei Halensis. Refs: BM French 394; Brunet I, page 1616. 

Cassander was a Flemish theologian, who attempted to reunite Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Christian churches.  In 1561 he anonymously published "De officio pii viri in hoc religionis dissidio", reprinted in this book on p. 789.  Cassander was given support by Emperor Ferdinand I, who vainly hoped to find a compromise solution for his increasingly schismatic subjects.  Unfortunately for Cassander, he was attacked for his pro-Reformation views by Leuven theologians (notably Hesselius, Ryn; William Lindanus) on one side and by Calvin and Beza on the other.  His attempts at a reconciliation failed.  This collection of his work was published after his death, and was placed on the Index of Prohibited Books (The "Index librorum prohibitorum").  "It is most probable, though not universally admitted, that Cassander died in full submission to the Catholic Church. He certainly always wished to remain a faithful member of the Church; but it is equally certain that some of his opinions were Protestant to the core. He advocated, for example, the division of ecclesiastical doctrines into fundamental and non-fundamental articles, the supremacy of private judgment, and the human origin of the papal primacy."  - Catholic Encyclopedia. 

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