His views, embodied in the work of a disciple, and revised by Marcantonio Flaminio, _On the Benefits of Christ's Death_, revealed strong Lutheran tendencies, which at a later period would certainly have condemned him to perpetual imprisonment or exile.

This book had a wide circulation in Italy, and was influential in directing the minds of thoughtful Christians to the problems of Justification.

It was ascribed to Aonio Paleario, who suffered martyrdom at Rome for maintaining doctrines similar to those of Valdes.[13] Round him gathered several members of the great Colonna family, notably Vespasiano, Duke of Palliano, and his wife, the star of Italian beauty, Giulia Gonzaga.
Vittoria Colonna, Marchioness of Pescara, imbibed the new doctrines in the same circle; and so did Bernardino Ochino.

Modena could boast another association, which met in the house of Grillenzone; while Ferrara became the headquarters of a still more pronounced reforming party under the patronage of the Duchess, Renee of France, daughter of Louis XII.

These various societies and coteries were bound together by ties of friendship and literary correspondence, and were indirectly connected with less fortunate reforming theologians; with Aonio Paleario, Bernardino Ochino, Antonio dei Pagliaricci, Carnesecchi, and others, whose tragic history will form a part of my chapter on the Inquisition.
[Footnote 13: Though as many as 40,000 copies were published, this book was so successfully stamped out that it seemed to be irrecoverably lost.
The library of St.John's College at Cambridge, however, contains two Italian copies and one French copy.