CATTANEO, CARLO AMBROGIO. - Jesuit, preacher, b. in Milano on 7 Dec. 1645, d. there on 19 Dec. 1705. He devoted the greater part of his life to preaching the Spiritual Exercises and to addresses for the gatherings of the Congregation of the Good Death, heard by every class of listener with acclaim and affection; but he became especially famous for his Sunday lectures, in which he explained certain texts of Holy Scripture to a very large and cultivated audience.
His works were all published posthumously, having been collected from the papers he left behind; they therefore lack the author’s final revision, yet are no less pleasing on that account: Esercizi spirituali (Venezia 1711); Esercizio della buona morte (Milano 1713); Lezioni sacre, (2 vols., ibid. 1713-14); Panegistici, orazioni Junebri e discorsi varii (ibid. 1714). The latter three works were arranged and edited by the man of letters Fr. Tommaso Ceva. There were numerous subsequent editions, some appearing in rapid succession; the last in 4 vols., Milano 1903; the translations are also noteworthy.
C.’s preaching, ever witty, incisive, rich in facts, parables, and highly varied applications to the most ordinary circumstances of life, responsive to the needs and defects of the times, and seasoned with refined humor, especially in the sacred lectures, makes the author one of the most effective models of moral and didactic preaching. One of his assertions (Lezioni sacre, 1ª lezione, 44) concerning the lawfulness, under certain conditions, of mental reservation gave rise to a bitter controversy, both attacking and defending him (cf. Sommervogel, II, cols. 892-94), which, however, did not harm a defended cause.