Vellico, Antonio Maria

VELLICO, ANTONIO MARIA. - Theologian of the Order of Friars Minor, b. at Dignano d'Istria on 14 Dec. 1894, d. at Feltre (Belluno) on 26 Apr. 1942.

He entered religious life at S. Francesco del Deserto near Venice (1910), was ordained a priest on 24 June 1917, and, after perfecting his theological studies at the International College of S. Antonio in Rome (1920-23), brilliantly obtained there the title of lector general in dogmatic theology. After teaching in various Venetian convents, in 1928 he was appointed professor of fundamental theology at the Ateneo Antoniano and in 1930 at the Lateran Athenaeum.

The fruit of his fervent teaching were the ample and erudite treatise De Ecclesia (Rome 1940), the notable essay La Rivoluzione e le sue fonti nel «De praescriptione havericorum» di Tertulliano (coll. Lateranum, Rome 1935) and important articles in the Antonianum (on the title Episcopus Episcoporum, on the concept of transubstantiation in Scotus, on the notion of miracle in St. Augustine, on the Regula fidei according to Scotus, on the scientific character of theology according to Scotus) and in the Bollettino filosofico of the Lateran Athenaeum (Blondel e l'apologetica). Among his numerous unpublished works mention must be made of the De episcopatu in catholica doctrina and the Introduci in S. Theologiam.

Antonio Piolanti