CAVALLARI, DOMENICO. – Priest and jurist, b. at Garopoli on 7 October 1724, d. at Naples on 5 October 1781. A student, in Naples, of Vico for literature, of Genovesi in philosophy, and of Pasquale Cirillo in jurisprudence, he later taught law at that University.
His principal works are the Institutiones iuris canonici, which went through many editions, and the Commentaria de iure canonico. Published posthumously and only in Naples in 1788, the latter reveal more than the Institutiones his ecclesiastical-political position, which alternates royalist traits with Jansenist affirmations. Not only does he assert the superiority of the council over the Pope (the Pope and bishops are merely ministerial heads, while Christ alone is the true head and the faithful the true members), but he also approaches rigorism in penitential discipline by denying any value to sacramental attrition. For these and other errors his works were placed on the Index (27 January 1817). He nevertheless denied the punishment of fire for children who died without Baptism, defended the antiquity of private Masses, and accepted, regarding indulgences, the doctrine of the thesaurus Ecclesiae,
he was opposed to the Inquisition and, in general, to capital punishments imposed on heretics.