MATTEO D'ACQUASPARTA. - Also referred to in ancient documents as M. Lombardo. Franciscan theologian, born around 1240, died in Rome on 29 October 1302, and buried at Aracoeli. He is believed to have belonged to the Bentivegna family, and to have been the brother of Cardinal Bentivegna and of Angelario, bishop of Todi. From the convent of S. Fortunato in Todi he went to the University of Paris, where he was biblical bachelor in 1268-69 or 1269-70, and bachelor of the Sentences in 1271-72.
He taught for some time at the Studium generale of Bologna. In 1279 he succeeded G. Peckam, elected archbishop of Canterbury, as lecturer at the Holy Palace, and remained there until 1287, when he became Minister General of the Order. During his brief generalate he reformed the statutes of the University of Paris, condemned Friar Nicolò de Ghistelle, formerly provincial of France, for his pamphlet against the declaration on the Franciscan rule issued by Nicholas III, Exiit qui seminat; and restored freedom to the Spirituals, especially to Giovanni da Parma and Pier Giovanni Olivi, whom he assigned to the Studium of S. Croce in Florence. M. d'A.'s attitude of prudent moderation in governing the Order earned him Dante's unfavorable judgment (Paradiso, XII, 124-26). Created cardinal priest of the title of
S. Lorenzo in Damaso on 16 May 1288, he retained the government of the Order until the General Chapter of Rieti in 1289. In that year, if not already at the end of 1288, he was elected major penitentiary, and in 1291 bishop of Porto and S. Rufina. As cardinal and papal legate, he played an extremely important part in the ecclesiastical affairs of his time; he worked to settle the disputes between Guelfs and Ghibellines and the conflict between Boniface VIII and Philip the Fair, asserting the Pope's plenitudo potestatis, including in famous speeches: at Orvieto on 11 July 1297, on the occasion of the canonization of Louis IX, king of France; in the Lateran Basilica on 6 January 1300, on the occasion of the great Jubilee; and in his reply in Consistory to the envoys of Philip the Fair in 1302.
No less important was M. d'A.'s role in the history of theological and philosophical thought in the thirteenth century, even though he did not have a system of his own. He inclined toward the Seraphic Doctor, of whom he proved a faithful disciple and from whose works he often drew verbatim. He thus continued that Augustinian current which, in the Order, had predecessors not only in Bonaventure but also in G. de Barlo, G. di Bruges, and G. Peckam. Depth of thought and extraordinary clarity of exposition make M. d'A. one of the most distinguished masters of the pre-Scotist Franciscan school.
His literary production was extensive, a considerable part of it being preserved in the autograph codices of the libraries of Assisi and Todi. His scriptural works include several Introitus, an exposition of Ecclesiastes, the Postillae in Ps. 1-50, in Iob, and in Apoc. More numerous are his theological and philosophical works: Comment. in I-II, IV Sent., Concordantiae II. Sent. per alphabetum, Breviloquium de S.ma Trinitate, Tract. de aeterna Spiritus S. processione, Quadlibeta VI, etc. About 200 Sermones dominicales et festivi of his are also preserved. Of this vast production, only the Quaestiones de fide et de cognition, Quaestiones selectiae de Christo, and Quaestiones de Gratia have been published, in Bibliotheca Franc. Schol. Medii Aevi, I-II, XI (Quaracchi 1903, 1914, 1934), together with a few other questions published in specialized studies.