CASIMIRO da MARSALA. - Capuchin theologian (in the world Casani), born at Marsala around 1676, died there on 15 Aug. 1762. Provincial of the Capuchins of Palermo on several occasions, he devoted himself to theological and juridical studies, and because of his profound learning was appointed qualificato and consultor of the Holy Inquisition in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
His most substantial work is in Latin: Dissertationes mystico-scholasticae adversus pseudo-mysticus (Palermo 1784). In it he deals chiefly with 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 spreading here and there in the Church.
His other ascetical works are: La via di mezzo nel cammino della perfezione cristiana (Palermo 1753), in which he criticizes the extremes of moral laxism and rigorism, both with regard to the mortification of the flesh and in the exercise of the moral virtues; Il mese contemplativo delle perfezioni divine (ivi 1755).