Girolamo and Pietro Ballerini were Italian Catholic theologians and

canonist Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

s of the 18th century, brothers, who published joint works. They were the sons of a surgeon of

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

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, 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 ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

. Some passages in this work gave serious offence to the school of absolute Probabilists, 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 mor ...

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

usury Usury () is the practice of making loans that are seen as unfairly enriching 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 charged in e ...

, and threw his influence against the claims of the Laxists. 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 (; ; 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. Pope Benedict X (1058–1059) is now con ...

, and also (1774) one of the ''Summa'' of

Raymond of Penyafort Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷ� ...

. 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 The Patriarchate of Aquileia was an episcopal see and ecclesiastical province in northeastern Italy, originally centered in the ancient city of Aquileia, situated near the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It emerged in the 4th century as a m ...

. 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 () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in northern Italy. The diocese belongs to the Ecclesiastical Province of Venice. The bishop of Verona has his seat in Verona, Vene ...

, and in 1739 a critical edition of the sermons of St.

Zeno of Verona Zeno of Verona (; ; about 300 – 371 or 380) was an African emigrants to Italy, Afro-Italian Christian figure believed to have either served as Roman Catholic Diocese of Verona, Bishop of Verona or died as a martyr. He is venerated as a saint i ...

. 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 language, Picard dialect of French language, 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 c ...

, who was condemned on account of his

Jansenism Jansenism was a 17th- and 18th-century Christian theology, theological movement within Roman Catholicism, primarily active in Kingdom of France, France, which arose as an attempt to reconcile the theological concepts of Free will in theology, f ...

. 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 ...

, ''

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 betwe ...

'', LIV-LVI). The third volume is a profound study of the sources of canon law. The comments contain several attacks on Jansenism and

Gallicanism Gallicanism is the belief that popular secular authority—often represented by the monarch's or the state's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the pope. Gallicanism is a rejection of ultramontanism; it has something ...

. Quesnel had published a collection of canons from a codex which he believed to have been in use under

Pope Innocent I Pope Innocent I () was the bishop of Rome from 401 to his death on 12 March 417. From the beginning of his papacy, he was seen as the general arbitrator of ecclesiastical disputes in both the East and the West. He confirmed the prerogatives of ...

, Pope Zozimus, 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 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

Giammaria Mazzucchelli Count Giammaria Mazzuchelli (or Giovanni Maria Mazzucchelli) (28 October 1707 – 19 November 1765) was an Italian writer, bibliographer and literary historian. Biography Mazzuchelli was the son of Count Federico Mazzuchelli ( it., Brescia, 1 ...

, (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 Brother duos People from Verona