ILLIRICO, TOMMASO, blessed. — Franciscan preacher and theologian, born ca. 1485 at Vrana (Dalmatia, whence I.’s surname), died at Mentone (Ventimiglia) in 1528. At Osimo, where he had gone as a child with his family, he entered the Order of Friars Minor Observants and was ordained a priest. Animated by an apostolic spirit, he preached throughout his life in Liguria, Dalmatia, Piedmont, France, and Germany, above all against the Protestant heresy, which was spreading at that time.
Appointed by Clement VII inquisitor general for the States of Savoy, he fought the Waldensians in particular, who were then in great turmoil.
Besides the Sermones (2 vols., Toulouse 1521), he wrote various polemical works against Protestantism, among which the following should be mentioned:
Libellus de potestate Summi Pontificis (Turin 1523); Conditiones veri pastoris animarum (there 1523); In lutheranas haereses clypeus catholicae Ecclesiae (there 1524: a refutation of the errors of De captivitate babilonica concerning Baptism and Penance). His doctrine concerning the pope is not free from blemish, since he accepted the conciliar theory, namely, the superiority of the ecumenical council over the Roman pontiff; but in T. I. this was a material error, due to the influence of the fifteenth century.