ILLYRICUS, Thomas, Blessed. - Franciscan preacher and theologian, b. ca. 1485 at Vrana (Dalmatia, whence the surname Illyricus), d. at Menton (Ventimiglia) in 1528. At Osimo, where he had gone as a child with his family, he entered the Observant Friars Minor and was ordained a priest. Animated by an apostolic spirit, he preached throughout his life in Liguria, Dalmatia, Piedmont, France, and Germany, especially against the Protestant heresy, which was spreading at that time.

Appointed by Clement VII inquisitor general for the Savoyard States, he fought in particular against the Waldensians, then in great ferment.

Besides the Sermones (2 vols., Toulouse 1521), he wrote various polemical works against Protestantism, among which should be remembered: Libellus de potestate Summi Pontificis (Turin 1523); Conditiones veri pastoris animarum (ibid. 1523); In lutheranas haereses clypeus catholicae Ecclesiae (ibid. 1524: a refutation of the errors of De captivitate babilonica concerning Baptism and Penance). His doctrine concerning the pope is not immune from fault, since he admits the conciliar theory, that is, the superiority of the ecumenical council over the Roman pontiff; but in T. I. this was a material error, due to the influence of the 15th century.

Bibliography10 works

BIBL.: Hutter, II, col. 1272 (incomplete); B. Fontana, Documenti vaticani contro l'ereto luterano in Italia (Archivio della R. Società romana di storia patria, 15), Rome 1892, pp. 97-101; G. Goleich, Fra T. I. detto da Orima. Appunti biografico-critici, Spalato 1903; B. Rode, Documenti di Ragusa, in Miscellanea franciscana, 15 (1914), pp. 178-80; R. J. M. Mauriac, Nomenclature et description sommaire des oeuvres de d. T. I., in Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 18 (1925), pp. 374-85; id., Une enquête en vue de la béatification de T. I., ibid., 24 (1931), pp. 513-522; id., Un réformateur catholique: T. I., in Etudes Franciscaines, 46 (1934), pp. 329, 434, 584; 47 (1935), p. 58; J. Mercier, Thomas Illyricum, in DTHC, I, XV, coll. 777-78 (inaccurate); G. Cantini, I Franciscani d'Italia di fronte alle dottrine luterane e calviniste durante il Cinquecento, Rome 1948, pp. 50-69 (the most recent and most complete work on T. I.).

Antonio Piolanti

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Illyricus, Thomas, Blessed

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