PREPOSITINO of CREMONA. - Theologian and liturgist, b. c. 1150, d. in Paris c. 1210. He studied law, perhaps at Bologna, and theology in Paris, at the school of Maurizio di Sully; having become a master, he taught for several years.
In 1195, he was appointed “scholasticus” of the cathedral of Mainz, and in the following years received important and confidential commissions from the Holy See; during the crisis that arose in the Church of Mainz over the election of Bishop Liutpoldo of Worms, P. was reprimanded by Innocent III (1203) for his attitude opposed to the decisions of the papal legate. It is believed that, following the Pope’s letter, P. submitted fully, since in 1206 he was appointed chancellor of the University of Paris and a judge delegated by the Apostolic See.
A particularly prolific theologian, he wrote important works, all unpublished: Quaestiones (Paris, Bibl. Mazzarino, n. 1708): they deal with many subjects without logical succession and in a very rudimentary form; Summa de paenitentia iniungenda (Bibl. of Vienna n. 1413): noteworthy for the history of penitential discipline and for the author’s psychological sensitivity; Summa contra haereticos (Vat. lat. 4304), of doubtful authenticity, valuable for its information on the passages (v.); Summa de officiis, transcribed word for word by Durando of Mende in his Rationale divinorum officiorum, and thus becoming the most popular liturgical book of the Middle Ages: Metz (v.); Summa super Psalterium (various manuscripts): it contains a prologue and a commentary on the first 99 psalms; Summa theologica (numerous manuscripts, especially English): it follows the order Pietro Lombardo (v.), enriching them with new questions and new data. Although this work represents the state of theology before the introduction of Aristotle and is not endowed with originality, it nevertheless exercised a broad influence on all theologians of the 13th century, especially on the Franciscan masters, and was cited by S. Tommaso himself.