ANGELO OF CHIVASSO, Blessed. - Famous Franciscan theologian, b. in Chivasso (Piedmont) probably in the year 1411, from the noble and ancient Carletti family. Inclined to piety, endowed with a perspicacious intellect, he made great progress in the spiritual life and in his studies. Having obtained a doctorate in theology and in both laws at the University of Bologna, he soon occupied very important offices in his homeland, so much so that he was appointed senator; but around the year 1441, that is, already thirty years old, he renounced all civil offices and his conspicuous wealth in order to enter the Franciscan Order, in which he wished his name of Antonio to be changed to that of A.
His superiors entrusted him with the chairs of theology and canon law, which he held for some years; at the same time he devoted himself to the ministry of preaching and of confession, and in this latter duty he distinguished himself to such a degree that very high-ranking personages, among them Charles I of Savoy, entrusted to him the direction of their souls. Elected superior of the province of Genoa in the chapter of 1462, in the General Congregation of Aquila of 1472 he was appointed vicar general of all the Observants of the Cismontane family, an office he held for the space of four three-year terms, that is, between the years 1472-75, 1478-81, 1484-87, 1490-93.
Most zealous for the pure observance of the rule of St. Francis, he displayed great commitment in preaching, by order of Pope Sixtus IV, the great crusade of 1480-1481 against the Turks, who had occupied the city of Otranto, from which they were afterwards driven out again. He refused various ecclesiastical dignities and prelatures. He wrote the noted Summa, called angelica from his name; a most useful work for confessors and moralists, which surpassed all others in general esteem. This earned him the hatred of Luther, who wanted the work to be burned in 1520 in a public square together with the bull of Leo X and with the Corpus of canon law.
By Innocent VIII, A. was appointed nuncio and apostolic commissioner against the Waldensian heretics, who were spreading their doctrines and practices in Savoy and in Piedmont. Two years he consecrated to this great undertaking; by his prudence and vigilance, by sermons, conferences and disputations he obtained not only the conversion and public abjuration of many heretics, but also strengthened in their faith the Catholics of those regions.
Admirable too was the work carried out in favor of the poor oppressed, propagating by word and by writings the Monti di Pietà: his principal foundations are those of Genoa and of Savona, already the uncontested domain of usurers. In Northern Italy he was called « defender of the faith, extirpator of heresies, protector of the poor ». He died on 11 Apr. 1495, in the convent of Cuneo, where he soon received religious cult, confirmed in 1753 by Benedict XIV. His feast is celebrated on 12 Apr.
His Summa casuum conscientiae was published for the first time in 1486 at Chivasso itself; the 2nd ed., better known, is that of Venice of 1487, which was followed by others in almost every year of the same 15th century. He also wrote a Tractatus de restitutionibus, Alcalá 1562; a declaration Super bullis Sixti IV and other minor works.