SINISTRARI, LUDOVICO MARIA. - Canonist, b. at Ameno (island of S. Giulio di Orta, Novara) on 26 Jan. 1632, d. at Giardini on 6 March 1701.
He studied letters at the University of Pavia, where he joined the Franciscans in 1647. He taught philosophy and theology; having specialized in the study of canon and civil law, he was a member of the Congregation for the reform of the Regulars, consultant to the supreme Tribunal of the Inquisition, theologian and vicar to the archbishop of Avignon, highly esteemed theologian to Archbishop Caccia of Milan, emeritus lecturer in his Order, and doctor honoris causa of the Universities of Salamanca and the Sorbonne.
An eminent scholar of ecclesiastical criminal law, which was his specialty, he commented upon and corrected the Practica criminalis of Santoro da Melfi. His principal work, Practica criminalis illustrata (2nd ed., Rome 1753), comprises three substantial quarto volumes and constitutes a complete treatise on criminal law as applied to ecclesiastics and religious, still occupying an important place in the literature of the genre.