POLITI, LANCELLOTTO (AMBROGIO CATARINO). - Dominican theologian, born in Siena ca. 1484, died in Naples on 8 Nov. 1553. Consistorial advocate under Leo X (1516), he turned to religious problems through his assiduous reading of the works of Savonarola.
Religious at S. Marco in Florence (5 Apr. 1517), he waged a determined struggle against the nascent Lutheran heresy: *Apologia pro veritate catholicae et apostolicae fidei adversus impia et valde pestifera M. Lutheri dogmata* (Florence 1520); *Excusatio disputationis contra Lutherum ad universas Ecclesias* (ibid. 1521). In 1528 in Siena he clashed with his Order in favor of the feast of the Immaculate Conception to be introduced in the church of S. Spirito and shortly thereafter found himself in doctrinal opposition to Cajetan; therefore he deemed it advisable to go to France in 1532, where he frequented various centers of study and, with the favor of the Sorbonne, printed the *Annotationes in excerpta quaedam Caietani* (Paris 1535); soon followed by the *Oratio de officio et dignitate sacerdotum christianique gregis pastorum in synodo Lugdunensi habita* (Lyons 1537). Returning to Italy (1538), he befriended the figures who in Rome Colonna (v.). Going back to France, he printed twelve *Opuscula* (Lyons 1543) on the most pressing theological problems (predestination, original sin, Immaculate Conception, the Last Things, the cult of the Saints). Upon his return to Rome he published two small works against Italian Protestants: *Rimedio a la pestilente dottrina di B. Ochino* (Rome 1544); *Compendio d'erroi ed inganni luterani contenuti in un libretto* (ibid. 1544). In 1545 he was at the Council of Trent as theologian to the Pope and there often manifested himself as an independent thinker, especially in his clashes with other illustrious confrères (B. Carranza, D. Soto) present at the Council or in the Roman Curia (B. Spina). Appointed on 27 Aug. 1546 bishop of Minori (Kingdom of Naples), in 1552 he was transferred to the see of Conza, and died while traveling to Rome.
During the Tridentine period he published other works relating to the problems debated there: *Tractatus quaestionis quo iure episcoporum residentia habeatur* (Venice 1547); controversial against Carranza; *Defensio catholicorum pro possibili certitudine Gratiae* (Bologna 1547); against Soto; *De consideratione et iudicio praesentium temporum a superstis zizaniis in agro Domini* (Venice 1547); against Luther; *Defensio contra schedulam a B. Spina Summo Pontifici oblatam* (ibid. 1547); self-defense against the Master of the Sacred Palace, who had presented to the Pope a collection of 50 propositions deemed condemnable; *Interpretatio noni capitis decreti de justificatione* (ibid. 1547); important for understanding sess. VI of the Council of Trent; etc. In the *Tractatus theologici plures* (Rome 1552) he expounds the doctrine on Matrimony, on the Baptism of Jewish children (who come voluntarily to Baptism), on the intention of the minister in the conferral of the Sacraments, defending the well-known thesis of external intention; on the indicative value of the words *Hoc est corpus meum*, he holds that the consecration occurs through the epiclesis preceding the *Quam oblationem* of the Roman Mass (*fit ergo Corpus Christi propter orationem praemissam et ex vi pacti et sic defenditur mos Graecorum*). The pamphlet was placed on the Index.
He tackled with scant technical preparation (he was self-taught) the gravest theological problems of the agitated Tridentine period, offering solutions that were sometimes of Scotist tendency (Immaculate Conception, primary motives of the Incarnation, identity of Grace with Charity), often personal, e.g., on predestination, on original sin (theory of the pact), on the minister’s intention, on the epiclesis. The new orientation he imparted to certain sectors of theology (Catharinism) won many adherents for a century; but it was later definitively eliminated. Of his work there remains the emphasis on the importance of ecclesiastical magisterium in theological construction, the constant return to the sources of Revelation, the agility and elegance of his theological prose.