CASIMIRIO da MARSALA. — Capuchin theologian (secular name Casani), born in Marsala ca. 1676, died there on 15 Aug. 1762. Several times provincial of the Capuchins of Palermo, he devoted himself to theological and juridical studies, and on account of his profound learning was named qualificator and consultor of the Holy Inquisition in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
His major work is in Latin: Dissertationes mystico-scholasticae adversus pseudo-mysticos (Palermo 1784). In it he treats especially of temptations of a sensual and diabolical character, and refutes in the light of Catholic doctrine the theoretical and practical aberrations of false mysticism, which was then spreading in the Church.
Other ascetical works of his are: La via di mezzo nel cammino della perfezione cristiana (Palermo 1753), in which he criticizes the extremes of moral laxism and rigorism alike in the mortification of the flesh and in the exercise of moral virtues; Il mese contemplativo delle perfezioni divine (ibid. 1755).