PREPOSITUS OF CREMONA. - Theologian and liturgist, b. c. 1150, d. in Paris c. 1210. He studied law perhaps at Bologna and theology at Paris, at the school of Maurice of 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 he received important positions of trust from the Holy See; during the crisis that arose in the Church of Mainz over the election of Bishop Liutpold of Worms, P. was reproached by Innocent III (1203) for his attitude contrary to the decisions of the pontifical 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 delegated judge of the Apostolic See.

A particularly prolific theologian, he wrote important works, all unpublished: Quaestiones (Paris, Bibl. Mazarine, no. 1708): they treat many subjects without logical succession and in a very rudimentary form; Summa de paenitentia iniungenda (Library of Vienna no. 1413): notable for the history of penitential discipline and for the author's psychological sensitivity; Summa contra haereticos (Vat. lat. 4304), of doubtful authenticity, valuable for the information on the Cathari (v.); Summa de officiis, transcribed word for word by Durand of Mende in his Rationale divinorum officiorum, and therefore become the most popular liturgical book of the Middle Ages: it depends on Amalarius of Metz (v.); Summa super Psalterium (various manuscripts): it contains a prologue and the commentary on the first 99 psalms; Summa theologica (numerous manuscripts, especially English): it follows the order of the sentences of Peter Lombard (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 wide influence on all the theologians of the 13th century, especially on the Franciscan masters, and was cited by St. Thomas himself.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: G. Lacombe, La vie et les oeuvres de Précostin (Biblioth. thom., 11), Kain 1927; id., Précostin de Crémone, in DTC, XIII, coll. 162-69; P. Glorieux, Répertoire des maîtres en théol. de Paris au XIIIe siècle, I, Paris 1933, pp. 266-68; F. Stegmüller, Die Summa des Praepositions in der Universitätsbibliothek zu Upsala, in Rech. de théol. ancien. et médiév., 15 (1948), pp. 171-81; A. Landgraf, Einführung in die Gesch. der theol. Literatur der Frühscholantik, Regensburg 1948, pp. 111-15; P. Anciaux, La théol. du Sacrement de Pénitence au XIIe siècle, Louvain 1949, passim (see index).

Antonio Piolanti

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Prepositus of Cremona

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