POLITI, Lancelotto (Ambrosio Catarino). - Dominican theologian, b. at Siena ca. 1484, d. at Naples on 8 Nov. 1553. A consistorial advocate under Leo X (1516), he turned toward religious problems through his assiduous reading of the works of Savonarola.
Having become a religious at S. Marco in Florence (5 Apr. 1517), he engaged in a determined struggle against the nascent Lutheran heresy: Apologia pro veritate catholicae et apostolicae fidei adversus impia et valde pestifera M. Lutheri dogmata (Florence 1520); Excusatio disputationis contra Lutherum ad universas Ecclesias (ibid. 1521). In 1528 at Siena he polemicized with his Order in favor of the feast of the Immaculate Conception to be introduced in the church of S. Spirito, and shortly afterward he came into doctrinal conflict with Cajetan; he therefore deemed it opportune to go to France in 1532, where he frequented various centers of study and, with the favor of the Sorbonne, printed the Annotationes in excerpta quaedam Caietani (Paris 1535); this was followed shortly afterward by the Oratio de officio et dignitate sacerdotum christianique gregis pastorum in synodo Lugdunensi habita (Lyons 1537). Having returned to Italy (1538), he formed a friendship with the persons who in Rome frequented the circle of Vittoria Colonna (v.). Having gone again to France, he printed twelve Opuscola (Lyons 1543) on the liveliest problems of theology (predestination, original sin, the Immaculate Conception, the Last Things, the cult of the Saints). On his return to Rome he published two short works against the Italian Protestants: Rimedio a la pestilente dottrina di B. Ochino (Rome 1544); Compendio d'errori ed inganni luterani contenuti in un libretto (ibid. 1544). In 1545 he was at the Council of Trent as theologian of the Pope and there often showed himself an independent thinker, especially in his clashes with other illustrious confreres (B. Carranza, D. Soto) present at the Council or in the Roman Curia (B. Spina). Appointed on 27 Aug. 1546 bishop of Minori (Kingdom of Naples), in 1552 he was transferred to the archbishopric of Conza, and he died while on his way to Rome.
During the Tridentine period he published other works relating to the problems agitated there: Tractatus quaestionis quo iure episcoporum residentia habeatur (Venice 1547): against Carranza; Defensio catholicorum pro passibili certitudine Gratiae (Bologna 1547): against Soto; De consideratione et iudicio praesentium temporum a supersatis zizaniis in agro Domini (Venice 1547): against Luther; Defensio contra schedulam a B. Spina Summo Pontifici oblatam (ibid. 1547): self-defense against the master of the Sacred Palace, who had presented to the Pope a collection of 50 propositions held to be condemnable; Interpretatio noni capitis decreti de iustificatione (ibid. 1547): important for understanding session VI of the Council of Trent; etc. In the Tractatus theologici plures (Rome 1552) he develops the doctrine on Matrimony, on the Baptism of Jewish children (sponte venientibus ad Baptismum), on the intention of the minister in the conferring of the Sacraments, defending the well-known thesis of external intention; on the indicative value of the words Hoc est corpus meum, he holds that the consecration takes place through the preceding epiclesis Quam oblationem of the Roman Mass (fit ergo Corpus Christi propter orationem praemissam et ex vi pacti et sic defenditur mos Graecorum). The pamphlet was placed on the Index.
With scant technical preparation (he was self-taught) he confronted the gravest theological problems of the troubled Tridentine period, giving solutions sometimes of Scotist tendency (Immaculate Conception, primary motives of the Incarnation, identity of Grace with Charity), many times personal, e.g., on predestination, on original sin (theory of the pact), on the intention of the minister, on the epiclesis. The new orientation he impressed on certain sectors of theology (Catharinism) won much assent for a century; but it was afterward definitively eliminated. Of his work there remains the emphasis on the importance of the ecclesiastical magisterium in theological construction, the constant return to the sources of Revelation, the agility and elegance of his theological exposition.