ORSI, GIUSEPPE AGOSTINO. - Dominican theologian and cardinal, b. in Florence on 9 May 1692, d. in Rome on 13 June 1761. A religious at Fiesole in 1709, he taught philosophy and theology at S. Marco in Florence, where he was also prior. From 1732 theologian of Cardinal Neri Corsini in Rome and theologian of the Casanatense, from 1738 secretary of the Congregation of the Index, then master of the Sacred Palace (1749-59), finally cardinal priest with the title of St. Sixtus (24 Sept. 1759). He was buried in his titular church.
A theologian, polemicist and historian, he left various works highly esteemed by his contemporaries. The first: Dissertation dogmatic and moral against the use of words (Rome 1727), was written against the Jesuit C. A. Cattaneo, who in his Lezioni sacre (ed. by T. Ceva) had shown himself somewhat too broad regarding the use of mental reservations, and it stirred up a long controversy that gave occasion to other writings: La causa della verità sostenuta contro l'anonimo apologista del p. C. A. Cattaneo (Florence 1729) and Dimostrazione teologica (Milan 1729). Among his other works mention should be made of the three volumes against Gallican doctrines and in favor of pontifical infallibility: De irreformabili Romani Pontificis in definiendis fidei controversis iudicio (Rome 1739, ibid. 1771); summarized translation: Dell'infallibilità ed autorità del Romano Pontefice sopra concilii ecumenici (2 vols., ibid. 1749). In opposition to the Histoire ecclesiastique of Claude Fleury, of openly Gallican tendencies, he wrote the Istoria ecclesiastica in 21 vols. (ibid. 1749-63, of which the last was posthumous). It reaches, however, only as far as the 6th century; his confrere F. A. Becchetti continued it up to 1529. Of the various editions, one of the best is that of Venice of 1822, in 42 vols.
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Alfonso D'Amato