Giacomo MALAPOSSA (also known as Giacomo and Giacomino Bargius) — Conventual Franciscan philosopher and theologian — was born in Barge (Cuneo) c. 1480 and died there in 1563.
Malaga.
He was educated under Fr Girolamo Gadi, praised as a metaphysician even by Seripando (Conc. Trid., Diaria, II, 400 n. 6), and took a doctorate in theology. Apart from a brief stint as provincial of Liguria (1537), his life was devoted to teaching: for twenty-five years he held the chair of regent at the Studium of the Santo in Padua, lecturing on metaphysics for more than forty years at the University of Padua. From 1547 he also served as inquisitor in Padua. In his later years he was summoned by the Duke of Savoy to Turin, where he taught for a short time at the university.
He has been described by Bertoni (v. BIBLICA) as an “elegant and spiritual sceptic.” His participation in the Council of Trent, attested by various writers of the Order but not yet confirmed by the official acts, was probably marginal: he may have delivered or written a speech there; yet his Commentaria in I Sent. Scoti (Padua 1560) were consulted and appreciated. Requested by several council fathers, in 1540 he published the Dissertatio an quia scire possit se esse in gratia Dei.
Other works: Quaestio de subiecto metaphysicae (Padua 1553); Oratio… ad obtinendam remissionem omnium peccatorum… (ibid. 1562); left in manuscript an Expositio in metaphysicum Aristotelis (at Ferrara) and Commentaria in II, III et IV Sent. Scoti, together with commentaries on the Pauline epistles.