Girolamo and Pietro Ballerini were Italian Catholic theologians and canonists of the 18th century, brothers, who published joint works. They were the sons of a surgeon of

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

Girolamo Ballerini

Girolamo was born at Verona 29 January 1701, and died 23 April 1781. After finishing his course in the Jesuit college of his native city he entered the seminary and was ordained a secular priest. In the pursuit of historical studies he soon came to appreciate

Cardinal Noris Henry Noris (29 August 1631 – 23 February 1704), or Enrico Noris, was an Italian church historian, theologian and Cardinal. Biography Noris was born at Verona, and was baptized with the name Hieronymus (Girolamo). His ancestors were Irish. ...

, also of Verona, and brought out (1729–33) a complete edition of his works.

Pietro Ballerini

Born 7 September 1698; died 28 March 1769, after completing his studies both at college and the seminary was chosen principal of a classical school in Verona. Here he began his literary career in 1724, when he prepared for his pupils a treatise on the method of study taught and followed by

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

. Some passages in this work gave serious offence to the school of

absolute Probabilists Absolute may refer to: Companies * Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher * Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK * Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk manage ...

, and for some years Pietro was engaged in a dispute with them, defending his principles of

Probabiliorism In Catholic moral theology, probabilism provides a way of answering the question about what to do when one does not know what to do. Probabilism proposes that one can follow an authoritative opinion regarding whether an act may be performed moral ...

in three volumes. Shortly afterwards he turned his attention to the question of

usury Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is ch ...

, and threw his influence against the claims of the

Laxist In Catholic moral theology, probabilism provides a way of answering the question about what to do when one does not know what to do. Probabilism proposes that one can follow an authoritative opinion regarding whether an act may be performed moral ...

s. To sustain his argument in this controversy he prepared (1740) an edition of the ''Summa'' of St. Antoninus which he sent to

Pope Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758.Antipope ...

, and also (1774) one of the ''Summa'' of Raymond of Penyafort. In the same year he published ''La Dottrina della Chiesa Cattolica circa l'usura'', in which he condemned all forms of usury. The scholarship of the two editors is best seen in the fourth volume of the works of Noris, especially in their dissertations against Garerius, and in their study of the early days of the Patriarchate of Aquileia. They also published (1733) an edition of the writings of Matteo Giberti,

Bishop of Verona 235px, The facade of ''Palazzo del Vescovado'' The Diocese of Verona ( la, Dioecesis Veronensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in northern Italy. The diocese belongs to the Ecclesiastical Province of Venice. The bishop of Verona ...

, and in 1739 a critical edition of the sermons of St. Zeno of Verona. The Ballerini brothers became famous throughout Italy, and in 1748 Peter was chosen by the senate of Venice to serve as its canonist in Rome in a dispute over the Patriarchate of Aquileia. He attracted the attention of

, who commissioned him to prepare an edition of St. Leo's works in refutation of the one published by

Quesnel Quesnel or Quesnell means "little oak" in the Picard dialect of French. It is used as a proper name and may refer to: Places * Le Quesnel, a commune the Somme department in France * Quesnel, British Columbia, a city in British Columbia, Canada ...

, who was condemned on account of his

Jansenism Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by t ...

. After almost nine years of labour in which he enjoyed free access to all the libraries of Rome, Pietro brought out his work in three volumes (Rome, 1753–57) reproducing the entire edition of Quesnel together with elaborate refutations and additions (

Migne Jacques Paul Migne (; 25 October 1800 – 24 October 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a u ...

, ''

Patrologia Latina The ''Patrologia Latina'' (Latin for ''The Latin Patrology'') is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1841 and 1855, with indices published between ...

'', LIV-LVI). The third volume is a profound study of the sources of canon law. The comments contain several attacks on Jansenism and Gallicanism. Quesnel had published a collection of canons from a codex which he believed to have been in use under Pope Innocent I,

Pope Zozimus Pope Zosimus was the bishop of Rome from 18 March 417 to his death on 26 December 418. He was born in Mesoraca, Calabria. Zosimus took a decided part in the protracted dispute in Gaul as to the jurisdiction of the See of Arles over that of Vienne ...

, and Leo the Great. Besides disproving this, Pietro brought out in an improved form earlier Latin editions of the canons, together with some very old unknown versions of Greek canons. He also published two works against

Febronius Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim (January 27, 1701 – September 2, 1790) was a German historian and theologian. He is remembered as Febronius, the pseudonym under which he wrote his 1763 treatise ''On the State of the Church and the Legitimate Powe ...

on papal power, ''De vi ac ratione Primatus Romanorum Pontificum'' (Verona, 1766), and ''De potestate ecclesiastica Summorum Pontificum et Concilorum generalium'' (Verona, 1765).

Works

* *

References

*Mazzuchelli, ''Gli scrittori d'Italia'' (Brescia, 1753–63), II, part I, 178 *Fabroni, ''Vitae Italorum doctrina excellentium'' (Pisa, 1778–1805), XVIII, 109.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballerini 18th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians Canon law jurists Brothers People from Verona