GUADAGNINI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. - Archpriest of Cividate in Val Camonica, a Jansenist of the Pavia group, an intimate friend of Pietro Tamburini (v.) and an erudite man, b. in 1723, d. in 1807. Gioberti in the Gesuita moderno speaks of him as a student of ecclesiastical history.
In chronological order his principal works are: De antiqua paroeciarum origine (Brescia 1782), in which he demonstrates the venerable antiquity of parish priests, maintaining their divine origin, their succession from the seventy-two disciples and the power given them directly by the Redeemer; Difficoltà sopra il pio esercizio della Via Crucis (Venice 1786), which he dedicates to Msgr. Scipione De' Ricci, bishop of Pistoia, setting forth the reasons that should exclude its liturgical practice and denying the doctrines current in the Church concerning indulgences; Nuovo esame di alcuni testi del Concilio di Trento relativi all'assoluzione... (Pavia 1787), where he defends the opinion that absolution from reserved sins by a priest who does not have the faculty to grant it is indeed unlawful but valid; Rhiposta al libro dello stato dei bambini dell'ab. G. Bolgini (ibid. 1788); De tollenda ecclesiastici calendarii perenni stabilitate (ibid. 1788); Apologia di Arnaldo da Brescia libri due (ibid. 1790). With these and other historical, critical and polemical publications (a good part of which are on the Index) and in particular with the apology of Arnaldo da Brescia, G. puts his voice and his authority as a scholar not only at the service of furthering the plan of ecclesiastical reform of Jansenism, but also in denying to the pope and the bishops divine rights and directive power in the Church, preferring in the patrimonial administration of ecclesiastical goods lay magistrates dependent on the princes.
Bibliography4 works
Benvenuto Matteucci