Converted to God: Bernardino Ochino’s Sermons Translated into English by Anne Cooke

Anne Cooke Bacon’s literary fame rests on her translation of the Prediche written by Bernadino Ochino, the Italian Protestant reformer. She was highly praised by her English and continental contemporaries as the books dedicated to her clearly demonstrate. Her first anonymous publication of Ochino’s Prediche dates back to 1548. Notwithstanding her young age, she was twenty years old at the time, Anne Cooke evidently felt ready to face such a difficult task as that of translating one of the most popular reformers of the time. Indeed, «she was actively involved in the religious controversy of the day, and her translations position her as a strong advocate for the Protestant cause» (Wayne 2000: ix). All in all, Anne Cooke puts her translations in a via media. Opting for a compromise, at times she displays subordination to the source text and its original author whilst on other occasions, in the attempt to domesticate Ochino’s sermons, she has inevitably been tempted to recreate a work which satisfies her readers’ expectations and the stylistic devices of her time.