MAZZOCCHI, LORENZO. - Servite, theologian, born at Castelfranco Veneto in 1490, died there on 8 Sept. 1560. Doctor of the Sorbonne, apostolic penitentiary, he fought the errors of Luther. On various occasions Paolo III appreciated his worth, especially in a historic disputation which M. held with the heretics at Ferrara on 28 Oct. 1520. Elected prior general of the Order on 2 June 1554, he became a theologian at the Council of Trent and played a major part in drafting the decree on justification.
Further evidence of his opinions is found in the decree on the Sacraments in general and in that on Confirmation. He sent the preachers of the Order an encyclical letter on preaching: Ecclesiastes nostrorum temporum (Rome, 1555). As a result of calumnies, he was confined in the prisons of the Holy Office, where he paraphrased in Latin verse the entire Psalter, together with the canticles Magnificat, Benedictus, and the Athanasian Creed. He also composed a Dialogus inter carnem et spiritum: Carmen consolatorium de ingrato carceris otio, Italian songs on the Ave Maria, Regina coeli, and Salve Regina. Once his innocence had been recognized, he was released from prison and composed the Sapphic hymn In gratiorum actionem. He also left: Conciones quadragesimales, Sermones de sanctis, and Quaestiones theologicae et morales.