POLITI, LANCELLOTTO (AMBROGIO CATARINO). — Dominican theologian, born at Siena ca. 1484, died at Naples on 8 November 1553. Consistorial advocate under Leo X (1516), he turned toward religious problems through the assiduous reading of the works of Savonarola.
A religious at S. Marco in Florence (5 April 1517), he engaged in a determined struggle against the rising 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 (there 1521). In 1528 at Siena he polemicized with his Order in favor of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, to be introduced into the church of S. Spirito, and shortly afterward entered into doctrinal conflict with Gaetano; he therefore considered it opportune to go to France in 1532, where he visited various centers of study and, with the support of the Sorbonne, printed the Annotationes in excerpta quaedam Caietani (Paris 1535); shortly afterward there followed the Oratio de officio et dignitate sacerdotum christianique gregis pastorum in synodo Lugdunensi habita (Lyons 1537). Having returned to Italy (1538), he formed friendships with the figures who in Rome Colonna (v.). Having gone once more to France, he printed twelve Opuscola (Lyons 1543) on the most vital problems of theology (predestination, original sin, the Immaculate Conception, the Last Things, the veneration of the Saints). Upon his return to Rome he published two short works against the Italian Protestants: Rimedio a la pestilente dottrina di B. Ochino (Rome 1544); Compendio d'errori ed inganni luterani contenuti in un libretto (there 1544). In 1545 he was at the Council of Trent as the Pope’s theologian, and there he often showed himself to be an independent thinker, especially in his conflicts with other distinguished brethren (B. Carranza, D. Soto) present at the Council or in the Roman Curia (B. Spina). Appointed bishop of Minori (Kingdom of Naples) on 27 August 1546, in 1552 he was transferred to the archbishopric of Conza, and died while traveling to Rome.
During the Tridentine period he published other works concerning the problems debated there: Tractatus quaestionis quo iure episcoporum residentia habeatur (Venice 1547): against Carranza; Defensio catholicorum pro passibili certitudine Gratiae (Bologna 1547): against Soto; De consideratione et iudicio praesentium temporum a supersatis zizaniis in agro Domini (Venice 1547): against Luther; Defensio contra schedulam a B. Spina Summo Pontifici oblatam (there 1547): a self-defense against the master of the Sacred Palace, who had presented the Pope with a collection of 50 propositions considered condemnable; Interpretatio noni capitis decreti de iustificatione (there 1547): important for understanding session VI of the Council of Trent; etc. In the Tractatus theologici plures (Rome 1552) he expounds the doctrine of Marriage, of the Baptism of Jewish children (sponte venientibus ad Baptismum), and of the minister’s intention in the conferral of the Sacraments, defending the well-known thesis of external intention; regarding the indicative value of the words Hoc est corpus meum, he holds that the consecration takes place through the preceding epiclesis Quam oblationem of the Roman Mass (fit ergo Corpus Christi propter orationem praemissam et ex vi pacti et sic defenditur mos Graecorum). The short work was placed on the Index.
He approached, with limited technical preparation (he was self-taught), the most serious theological problems of the troubled Tridentine period, offering solutions sometimes of a Scotist tendency (the Immaculate Conception, the primary motives of the Incarnation, the identity of Grace with Charity), and often personal ones, for example, concerning predestination, original sin (the theory of the covenant), the minister’s intention, and the epiclesis. The new orientation he imparted to certain sectors of theology (Catarinism) won considerable support for a century; but it was subsequently definitively eliminated. What remains of his work is his emphasis on the importance of the ecclesiastical magisterium in theological construction, his constant return to the sources of Revelation, and the agility and elegance of his theological prose.