PASSIONE, DOMENICO
Cardinal. Born at Fossombrone on 2 December 1682, died at Camaldoli (Frascati) on 5 July 1761. He attended the Clementine College of the Somaschi Fathers in Rome, later devoting himself to the study of dogmatics and ecclesiastical history under the direction of G. M. Tommasi, through whom he became an advocate of the strictest Augustinianism and of rigorous moral theology. An anti-Molinist and anti-probabilist theological orientation inclined him toward a secret sympathy for the theology and morality of the Jansenists. Contributing to this were his friendships with Cardinals Noris and Ferrari and with Monsignor Fontanini, who introduced him to French cultural circles, including the Maurists. Eclectic, he did not miss any opportunity to associate with learned men and literati of the time, including Montesquieu and Voltaire, absorbing their sympathies and antipathies, from which his not very profound theological formation could not escape the inner reasons for resentment—now lay and Enlightenment-inspired, now Gallican and Jansenist—against the Church.
His two-year stay in Paris and four years in Holland, from 1706 to 1713, on assignments for the Holy See, allowed him to become acquainted with the religious environment of Paris, Amsterdam, and Deventer, and his ambition readily fell prey to the rebels, many of whom were exiles in Holland. These and other Utrecht (v.) influenced his formation. For the various services rendered to the Holy See as an envoy
PASSIONE, DOMENICO — PASTEUR, LOUIS
he was expected to subscribe to the decree. To avoid doing so, he retired to Camaldoli. Clement XIII sent him a brief ordering him either to sign or resign. He signed, but his irritation was such that, struck by an apoplectic stroke, he died twenty days later.