LORENZO MAZZOCCHI. – Servite, theologian, born in Castelfranco Veneto in 1490, died there on 8 September 1560. Doctor of the Sorbonne, papal penitentiary, he combated the errors of Luther. On various occasions Paul III appreciated his worth, especially in a historic disputation that Mazzocchi held with heretics at Ferrara on 28 October 1520. Elected Prior General of the Order on 2 June 1554, he became theologian of the Council of Trent and played a large part in drafting the decree on justification.
Other traces of his opinions are found in the decrees on the Sacraments in general and on Confirmation. He sent the preachers of the Order an encyclical letter on preaching: *Ecclesiastes nostrorum temporum* (Rome 1555). After being slandered, he was imprisoned in the dungeons of the Holy Office, where he paraphrased in Latin verse the entire Psalter 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 was recognized, he was released from prison and composed a Sapphic hymn in thanksgiving. He left behind: *Conciones quadragesimales*, *Sermones de sanctis* and *Quaestiones theologicae et morales*.