MAGNI, VALERIANO (of Milan). - Capuchin friar, born in Milan on 15 October 1586, died in Salzburg on 29 July 1661.
Admitted to the Order by St. Brindisi (v.) in Prague on 25 March 1602, he immediately gained fame through his preaching. He taught philosophy in Vienna and Prague; he composed philosophical books and pamphlets with innovative aims, drawing inspiration from the Augustinian-Bonaventurian tradition against Aristotelianism, which he considered contrary to Christian doctrine, insufficient and lacking in objective study of nature.
His principle is the knowledge of God and the world through divine illumination: *De luce mentium et eius imagine* (Rome 1642, completed in the 2nd ed., Vienna 1646; Bologna 1886); *Principia et specimen philosophiae* (Cologne 1652 and 1662). Also: *Opus philosophicum* (Leitomischl 1660).
In 1616 he was placed in charge of the Capuchin mission in Poland, requested by Sigismund III; he worked for the succession of the latter’s son Ladislaus (1632), persuading him for religious reasons to marry Cecilia Renata, daughter of the Emperor (1637). He negotiated in Paris on behalf of Ferdinand III of Austria and Maximilian of Bavaria in the Grisons question (1623); in Pinerolo and at the Diet of Regensburg (1630) regarding the succession of Mantua; he acted as intermediary between General Wallenstein, Urban VIII (1632) and the Emperor (1634). Provincial Minister of Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia (1624–26), in 1626 the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide appointed him alongside Cardinal E. Harrach, the adversary in Prague, for the religious restoration in Bohemia; from 1643 he was appointed Apostolic Missionary in Electoral Saxony, Hesse, Brandenburg, and Danzig. His disputes and controversies with Protestants gained wide attention: in *De acatholicorum credendi regula iudicium* (1628); *Iudicium de acatholicorum et catholicorum regula credendi* (Vienna 1641); *Echo absurditatum Ulrici de Neufeld Blesa* (Cracow 1646). On behalf of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, he secured the abjuration (Epiphany 1652) of Ernest of Hesse-Rheinfels and his wife. In this undertaking was included the disputation with Protestants at Rheinfels Castle (14–24 December 1651), which extended into a series of writings between Magni and his adversaries. He was also opposed by Ernest and the Jesuits, and this disagreement, which had begun earlier over the matter of the University of Prague, led him to publish defenses in his own name: *Apologia* (n.d. and place; probably 1655). By superior order, the nuncio in Vienna had him imprisoned (10 February 1661). Friends and admirers secured his release; he was warmly welcomed in Salzburg, where he died in peace and tranquility.
1845 MAGNI VALERIANO – MAINZ 1846
s. V. in DTHC, IX, cols. 1553–65; K. Spigel, *Die Prager Universitätsunion* (1618–54), in *Mitteilungen des Vereines für Geschichte der Deutschen in Böhmen*, 62 (1924), pp. 5–94; R. Bizzarri, *The Capuchins as Precursors of Rosmini*, in *Rassegna Nazionale*, 46 (1924), pp. 3–9; Augustin de Corniero, *Capuchins as Precursors of Fr. Bartolomeo Barberis*, in *Collectanea Franciscana*, 3 (1933), pp. 67–80, 209–28, 347–53, 518–70; Giustino da Novara, *La regola prossima della fede nell’apologetica di V. M.*, Casale Monferrato 1937; German Abgustopson von Staldenried, *P. V. M. Sein Leben im allgemeinen, seine apostolische Tätigkeit in Böhmen im besonderen*, Olten 1939; Melchior a Pobludura, *Historia generalis Ordinis Min. Capucinorum*, I, part 2, Rome 1948, pp. 376–81; II, ibid. 1948 (v. index). Ilario da Milano