NATALI, MARTINO. — A Piarist and Jansenist, born at Bussana (Imperia) on 21 December 1730, died at Pavia on 28 June 1791. A disciple of G. B. Curlo, in Rome he formed friendships with the most tenacious adversaries of the Jesuits and the warmest supporters of Jansenism, and found an opportunity to express his ideas. When admonished, he did not yield; rather, his polemical character grew with singular violence, to the point of attracting suspicion upon his name even from the Holy Office.
The reason was a course of 509 theses, De summo Pontifice deque S. Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalibus, and the publication of these and other theses (by the Roman publisher Zempel), in which, under the appearance of defending Catholic truths, he insinuated Jansenist theories. Reprimanded by Fr Mamachi and subjected to an examination by the Holy Office, he was not condemned; nevertheless, he was prohibited from continuing his theological teaching at the Collegio Calasanzio (1763). Transferred to Urbino, in the following year, with the support of friends he returned to Rome, where he wrote in an aggressive tone: Lettera d'un chierico delle Scuole Pie scolare del p. M. N., al p. maestro Mamachi di Scio, teologo casanatense a giustificazione di sé. From 1766 to 1769 he was prefect of the schools of the Collegio Calasanzio, in which year he was ordered to transfer to Milan for a chair of dogmatic theology at the University of Pavia. From his Pavia course come the works: S. Augustini doctrina de Gratia Dei (Pavia 1786); Scripturae et Patrum doctrina de Deo eiusque attributus seu praelectionum theologicarum ad usum auditorum (there, 1787–1788). In addition: Lettera contro il Tournely (there, 1770); Lettera sopra la morte di Gesù e la sua discesa all'Inferno (there, 1776), in which the common doctrine concerning Limbo is rejected and free discussion is defended against the common teaching in theological matters; two years later he added to this work a Sermone di s. Agostino in cui tratta della pena de' fanciulli morti senza Battesimo. Particularly popular were the Sentimenti di un cattolico sulla predestinazione dei santi (there, 1782), the Preghiere della Chiesa per ottenere da Dio la sua santa Grazia (there, 1783), and an'Epitome all'opera di Francesco Veronio (there, 1785). He was also a constant contributor to the Pistoian collection Opuscoli interessanti la religione, edited by De' Ricci; a translator of various works by the French appellants; and an apologist for the schismatic Church of Utrecht, against the history Mozzi (v.), in a short work that he left unfinished. Finally, he concluded with a truly daring work: Dubbio sul centro dell'unità cattolica della Chiesa (there, 1790), an obscure vision of the Church on the part of a poisoned believer and uncompromising revolutionary. Codignola rightly considers it
his literary, theological, and polemical testament. Many of his friends rejected II. He carried out his office as royal censor in a Jansenist manner, especially in the case of Bellarmine’s catechism, seeking, as he said, against the « lojolistiche dottrine » « sana verità e dottrina »; he was ever devout and humble toward the imperial government, while hostile and acrimonious toward the Roman Curia. He maintained constant relations with the principal Italian and foreign Jansenists; but, unable to rise above polemics, partly because of the lack of originality in the complexity of his work and intellect, he remained merely a bold and rash representative of Ligurian Jansenism and of the Pavia theological portico.