Passaglia, Carlo

PASSAGLIA, CARLO. - Theologian and political-ecclesiastical writer, b. at Pieve S. Carlo (Lucca) on 9 May 1812, d. at Turin on 12 March 1887.

Having entered the Jesuits on 18 Nov. 1827, he was later prefect of studies at the Collegio Germanico and professor of canon law at the Collegio Romano, where from 1844 to 1848 he held the chair of dogmatic theology, distinguishing himself by his wide erudition, his rich patristic knowledge, and his classical and lively eloquence. The upheavals of 1848 forced him into exile in England, France and Belgium, whence, having returned to Rome, he resumed his lectures in 1850. He was extremely active in the preparation of the definition of the Immaculate Conception, for which, assisted by Fr. C. Schröder, he wrote the classic work: De immaculato Deiparae Virginis conceptu (3 vols., Rome 1854). Difficulties with the Order on account of his political ideas and many disappointments led him to ask Pius IX for secularization and to obtain it (20 Jan. 1854). The Pope then gave him a chair of philosophy at the Sapienza. Meanwhile he was won over to the cause of Piedmont; he wrote in fact: Il Pontefice e il Principe (s. l. 1860), in which he maintained the relative necessity of the temporal power, to which, therefore, the pope could renounce for higher interests. Brought into contact with Cavour by Dr. D. Pantalconi, his Roman correspondent, he defended Italian unity and agreed to negotiate with Cardinals Antonelli and Santucci, negotiators of the Holy See, the renunciation by the Pope of the Legations. When the attempt failed, he published, anonymously, Pro causa italica ad episcopos catholicos auctore presbytero catholico (Rome 1861) to persuade bishops and clergy not to show themselves enemies of the reconstituted fatherland. The work, immediately translated into Italian (Florence 1861) and placed on the Index (decree 9 Oct. 1861), forced him to flee, in disguise, from Rome to Turin, where he obtained a chair of philosophy at the University and where he feverishly continued his conciliatory activity, with various publications, among them the Perizione di novemila sacerdoti italiani a S. Santità Pio IX e ai vescovi cattolici con esso uniti (Turin 1862), with which the Pope was asked to grant Rome as the capital of Italy. For the same purpose he founded in Turin, in 1862, Il Mediatore, a biweekly political, religious, scientific and literary journal, which he edited until 1866 (placed on the Index, decree 26 Jan. 1863), flanking it in 1863-64 with the daily La pace and in 1867 with the weekly Il Gerdil. Suspended a divinis, he laid aside the ecclesiastical habit, but preserved intact his faith and morals; he wrote indeed against Renan: La vita di Gesù scritto da E. Renan discussa e confutata (Turin 1863); against divorce: Sul divorzio (ibid. 1881); and as a commentary on the encyclical Aeterni Patris: Della dottrina di s. Tommaso secondo l'enciclica di Leone XIII (ibid. 1880), where he praises that document and at the same time defends Rosmini. He was also a deputy for the constituency of Montecchio in the Italian Parliament (1863-64), but ended by renouncing his mandate and finding himself by then surrounded by oblivion. Shortly before dying he repented of his errors and of his activity against the authority of the Pontiff and made public retraction of them in the hands of Cardinal Archbishop Alimonda, dying thus reconciled with the Church.

To the works mentioned, there should be added: the reissue of the Eschiridion de fide, spe et caritate s. Augustini, already edited by Fr. J. B. Faure (Naples 1847); De praerogativa b. Petri (Rome 1850); Commentariorum theologiorum partes tres (3 vols., out of the 5 projected, ibid. 1850-51); Conferenze dette nella Chiesa di Gesù in Roma nella Quaresima del 1851 (published first in Civ. Catt., 1st series, vols. v-vii, then separately, Rome 1851); De Ecclesia Christi (5 vols., Regensburg 1853-56); De aeternitate poenorum (ibid. 1854); he also collaborated with Fr. C. Schrader on the new edition of D. Petau, Opus de theologicis dogmatibus (Rome 1857), but the work foundered after vol. I.

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