TRICASSINO (da TROYES), CARLO GIUSEPPE. — Capuchin preacher and controversialist, born at Troyes (Tricassinus), entered religious life on 9 November 1631, and died in the convent of S. Onorato in Paris on 15 January 1686.
He published works valued for their exegesis of the doctrine and controversial texts of s. Agostino on Grace, free will, and predestination, defending them against Jansenist interpretations. In De Praedestinatione hominum ad gloriam (Paris 1669; 2nd ed. there 1673 with a Supplementum augustinianum), following s. Agostino and s. Tommaso, he maintains predestination post praevia merita. The De indifferenti lapsi hominis arbitrio sub Gratia et concupiscentia (there 1673) is devoted to defending the freedom of the will and its indeterminacy with respect both to good and to evil acts; but in De necessaria ad salutem Gratia omnibus et singulis data (there 1673) he explains how Grace is granted in truly sufficient measure to every category of persons. In De natura peccati originali (there 1677), he denies that, according to s. Agostino, original sin consists in concupiscence or in a merely penal condition. Against the contritionists he directed the treatise De causa bonorum operum (there 1677, with a Supplementum, there 1679), in which he maintains the legitimacy and sufficiency, as motives for good works, of hope for reward and fear of punishment. More analytical in character are the Commentarii breves et continui in libros divi Augustini contra Pelagianos (there 1680) ... contra semipelagianos (there 1681) ... contra Pelagium et Coelestium (posthumous, Mainz 1687). Through these and other works, T. aligned himself with the Molinists. Against the fatalistic passivity of the indifferent he composed the short treatise Gratia efficax a seipsa, refutata ex libris s. Augustini (posthumous, Mainz 1687), which, because it lent itself to erroneous interpretations, was placed on the Index (22 September 1692). T. also took aim at La philosophie de M. Descartes contraire à la foi catholique (Paris 1682).