SOVINI (SOZZINI), LELIO and FAUSTO. - Heretics from Siena who gave their name to the radical Protestant movement of the "antitrinitarians" or "unitarians," which from them takes the name of "Socinianism."
I. LELIO
Born in Siena in 1525, died in Zurich in 1562. He studied law in Padua and was soon won over by the ideas of Church renewal in the form of evangelism (v.), though he maintained the philological and philosophical motives of Stoic humanism, for which he was a vigorous advocate of human ethical capacities against Calvinism, as well as a renewer of the Arian position regarding the divinity of Jesus Christ. He left Italy for reasons of study and also religious ones, traveling repeatedly through Central Europe but not finding a stable home in the centers of Protestantism in Switzerland (Basel, Geneva, Zurich) and Germany (Wittenberg) because of his opposition to the new Calvinist, Lutheran, Zwinglian, and Catholic dogmas. His relations with leading figures of the Reformation (Calvin, Bullinger, Butzer, Melanchthon, and others) became polemical and harsh, especially with Calvin. He thus took part in all the theological controversies of the second generation of the "Reformation." He was also in Cracow, Poland, under the protection of noble dissidents in both politics and religion. Lelio’s theological position is substantially similar to that of many other Italian heretics of the period (Ochino, Blandrata, Gribaldi, Aconcio, Stancaro, Pucci, Gentili), strongly influenced by the critical demands of Erasmian humanism: a position centered on the critique of every form of ecclesiastical discipline, especially dogmas as irrelevant to the substance of faith-trust, thus practicing a more or less explicit dogmatic indifferentism, on the theory of tolerance toward heretics (hence his vigorous protest against the condemnation of Michael Servetus [v.], an antitrinitarian), on the simplification of Christian doctrine, and on the critique of the Trinitarian dogma.II. FAUSTO
Born in Siena in 1539, died on March 3, 1604, in Lucławice (Cracow). Initially a man of letters, he gave European resonance to his uncle’s ideas (whose manuscripts he inherited) and firmly organized the antitrinitarians of Poland and Transylvania. As early as 1562 he had written a pamphlet against the Trinitarian doctrine, printed anonymously after having been in Lyon. He lived for some time in Florence, at the Medici court, studying the Bible and translating the Psalms, but also composing love sonnets and songs to mask his activities. Only in 1574 did he definitively leave Italy for Switzerland and then for Poland, which was to become the center of his intense activity of propaganda and organization. His writings were widely circulated, for the most part under various pseudonyms. In Poland there were already antitrinitarian currents, but divided and in conflict: Fausto succeeded in outlining a middle theory in which all could agree and at the same time provide a solid structure for the Churches, which were under attack from both the new Protestant orthodoxy and resurgent Catholicism. The center of Fausto’s activity was the city of Rakow (near Sandomierz), where there was already a *gymnasium bonarum artium*, which soon became the center of propaganda for the sect, as Calvin’s Academy was in Geneva.Fausto’s theological conception is substantially reflected in the profession of faith known as the "Rakow Catechism," drawn up (1605–1609) on the basis of his opinions and writings after his death. In it, the authority of the Bible as a norm of faith is recognized, but above it is placed "sound human reason," which needs no special divine assistance to recognize religious truths. In the interpretation of the Bible, one must adhere to the literal sense, bearing in mind that the biblical idea of God is anthropomorphic. Only the Father of Jesus is held to be God; the unity of the person for the Socinians is inseparable from the unity of nature; therefore they seek to prove that the divinity of Christ is contrary to Holy Scripture and reason. Nevertheless, Jesus, for them, is superior to other men by the three prerogatives of his virgin birth, his perfect holiness, and the power to govern the world transmitted to him by God. For these prerogatives, worship is also due to Christ, though of an order inferior to that reserved for God. Moreover, the infallibility of divine foreknowledge is contested, as are the doctrines of original holiness and justice in man; it is doubted that man was originally immortal and that original sin is hereditary. The likeness of man to God consists exclusively in his dominion over creatures subordinated to him. The necessity of grace for eternal life is also denied (since human ethical strength alone suffices for the observance of the commandments), and with this, predestination, the necessity of Christ’s Redemption, and the application of his merits are denied.
The Sacraments are regarded as mere ceremonies. Even Baptism is not necessary for those born into Christianity, and Christ’s command to baptize all nations applied only to the initial period of the Church. The Lord’s Supper, however, was instituted permanently, but with the simple meaning of a commemorative ceremony of Jesus’ death. The resurrection of the flesh and the eternity of the punishments of hell are denied: evil angels and the damned will be annihilated on the last day.
The antitrinitarianism of the Socinians acted as a rationalistic ferment even after their followers, expelled from Poland (1638), found refuge in Transylvania, Holland, England, and America; Socinianism, increasingly freed from the theological presuppositions initially retained, became an ideological current with pacifist, rationalist, republican, dogmatically indifferent, and markedly ethical-religious characteristics, which played a major role in the formation of English liberalism.