VELLICO, ANTONIO MARIA. - Theologian of the Order of Friars Minor, b. at Dignano di Istria on 14 Dec. 1894, d. at Feltre (Belluno) on 26 Apr. 1942.
A religious at S. Francesco del Deserto near Venice (1910), ordained priest on 24 June 1917, he furthered his theological studies at the International College of S. Antonio in Rome (1920–23), where he brilliantly obtained the title of general lecturer 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 University.
The fruits of his fervent teaching were the extensive and learned treatise De Ecclesia (Rome 1940), the noteworthy 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 University (Blondel e l'apologetica). Among his numerous unpublished works, mention should be made of the De episcopatu in catholica doctrina and the Introduci in S. Theologiam.