PETRONIO, saint — S. P. Detail of the Madonna enthroned between s. P. and s. Giovanni Evangelista by Fr. del Cossa (1474) — Bologna, Pinacoteca.
July 1701. Having entered the Filippini on 2 February 1661, in 1678 he became provost of the Congregation. On 20 May 1681 he took possession of the diocese of Jesi. On 2 September 1686 he was created cardinal by Innocenzo XI.
P. is the foremost exponent of Italian Quietism, in which, MOLINISMO (v.), he represents a type of “moderate” Quietism. Not everything in P. is heretical (indeed, at times his Quietism is merely a “state of mind”); but heresy appears in him in the theological delineation of the mystical stage, insofar as he affirms not only the suspension of the intellect’s discourse but the suspension of the intellect itself: and in this situation he outlines the theory of “nothingness” as the exemplar of the mystical life and the center of the soul (I mistici enigmi discelati, Venice 1683, p. 34). His anti-intellectualist position leads him to the definition of a God who on earth “is to be believed, hoped in, adored, and loved, not known or contemplated” (Lettere e trattati spirituali e mistici, part 2, there 1679, p. 168). P. consciously maintained the impeccability of man when placed in the contemplative stage. P.’s theories, expressed in his writings (in addition to the works cited: La contemplazione mistica aquistata, there 1682; Il nulla della creature e l' tutto di Dio, Bologna 1682; Lettere brievi spirituali e sacre, Jesi 1682), and the method of spiritual guidance that he practiced with his penitents in Jesi caused a great stir: on 17 December 1687 he had to retract the heretical propositions in the presence of Innocenzo XI, which aroused the “displeasure” of the Congregation of the Holy Office, which wanted the retraction to be public. P.’s works were placed on the Index on 5 February 1688.