Alessandro da Sant'Elpidio

ALESSANDRO DA SANT'ELPIDIO. - Augustinian theologian and canonist, b. in 1265 at S. Elpidio in the Marca d'Ancona. The surname Fassitelli is attributed to him, though it is passed over in silence by contemporary historiographers. Having entered the Hermits of St. Augustine, he studied in Paris under the master Giles of Rome (v.), and held the degree of bachelor. In 1300 he was appointed rector of the studium of the Order at the papal court of Anagni, then returned to the province of the Marches as provincial definitor. In 1307 he was again in Paris, as master and professor of theology, until in 1312 he was elected prior general of his Order, an office he held for five successive terms. In

1326 he was raised to the episcopal see of Melfi in Lucania. He died a few months later.

He was distinguished for zeal for regular observance, especially of silence and poverty, joined to uncommon prudence in governance. He also reorganized ecclesiastical studies within his Order. He employed his remarkable intellectual gifts for the benefit of the sacred sciences and of papal authority.

His works are for the most part unpublished. Only the following were printed: De inisidizione imperii et auctoritate summi Pontificis (Lyons 1498, 1538; Rimini 1624); Tractatus de ecclesiastica potestate (Turin 1496; Rimini 1624, and in the Biblioteca pontificia of T. Roccabrati, II, Rome 1695, pp. 1-40).