Capelli, Marco Antonio

CAPELLI, MARCO ANTONIO. - Born at Este around the middle of the 1500s, died at Rome on 21 September 1625. Historian, theologian and controversialist of the Conventual Franciscans. He was regent at Udine and at Padua, in the Studio del Santo, then provincial of the East (Constantinople). Held in high esteem at Venice, in 1606, when the city was placed under interdict by Paul V, C., together with other theologians, took a position against the Pope, but he recanted at Bologna the same year, writing various works of theology and of law, among which De absoluta omnium rerum sacrarum immunitate a potestate principum laicorum (manuscript in the Vatican Library), dedicated to Paul V who, as a sign of forgiveness and esteem, summoned C. to Rome, appointing him qualificator of the Holy Office. He also wrote various works with "admirable acumen," against the pretended primacy of the king of England (Bologna 1610), and then against other Anglicans and against the Lutherans, who attacked him violently.

Among the 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 works of C., of great resonance, were included in later libraries and collections.

Lorenzo Di Fonzo