CAPELLI, MARCO ANTONIO. - Born at Este around the middle of the sixteenth century, died at Rome on 21 Sept. 1625. Historian, theologian, and controversialist of the Conventual Franciscans. He was regent at Udine and at Padua, at the Studio del Santo, then provincial of the East (Constantinople). Highly esteemed at Venice, when the city was placed under interdict by Paolo V in 1606, C., together with other theologians, took a position against the Pope; but he recanted at Bologna in the same year, writing various works on theology and law, among them De absoluta omnium rerum sacrarum immunitate a potestate principum laicorum (a manuscript in the Vatican Library), dedicated to Paolo V, who, as a sign of forgiveness and esteem, summoned C. to Rome and appointed him qualifier of the Holy Office. He also wrote, with “remarkable acumen,” various works against the alleged primacy of the king of England (Bologna 1610), and subsequently against other Anglicans and against the Lutherans, who attacked him vehemently.
Among his other works: De appellationibus ecclesiae africanae ad romanam Sedem (Paris 1622); Regole di s. Agostino, s. Benedetto e s. Chiara dichiarate secondo i decreti del Concilio di Trento (Bologna 1623); De coena Christi suprema (Paris 1625). Some of C.’s works, which had great resonance, were included in later libraries and collections.