Prospero Fagnani

In Prümmer's Catalogue and Haringer's Index

• “Fagnanus, Prosper, Italian (1587-1678), was made blind in the 44th year of his age, wherefore he was called "the most keen-sighted blind doctor"; he wrote a truly classic commentary on the Decretals of Gregory IX. He also wrote a little work De opinione probabili. In general he defends rigid opinions; wherefore he is called by St. Alphonsus, Theol. mor. book 3, no. 669, "the great prince of the rigorists."” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
• [+*: rigid] “Fagnanus Prosper, for many years secretary of the sacred congregation of the council, easily the chief of rigid authors (according to St. Alphonsus) (On the Books of the Decretals), born 1598, died 1678.” — Haringer's index of writers (Gury-Ballerini) (p. XVII, sign read on the page)

His Moral System, as Our Authors Report It

Every report quoted in the author's own words and linked to its place; point at a name to see his words. Haringer's signs give St. Alphonsus's judgment as Haringer found it in St. Alphonsus's works (his notice, Gury-Ballerini, 1884, p. XI); a sign on a writer the 1884 editor added to the list is the editor's own, and is said to be his.

Our authors disagree. Probabiliorist: Noldin, Tanquerey. Tutiorist (rigorist): Vermeersch, Marc, Merkelbach, Prümmer. Against probabilism: Concina.

Works Our Authors Used

• Fagnanus, Jus Canonicum, or commentaries on the books of the Decretals, Besancon, 1740. — Tanquerey's list
• Fagnanus, Prosper, 1587-1678, Commentaria in quinque Decretalium libros, Rome, 1661. — Tanquerey's list

In the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)

“Prospero Fagnani”, vol. 5, by Alphonse Van Hove. Public domain; transcription from Wikisource.

Canonist, b. in Italy, place and date of birth uncertain; d. in 1678. Some writers place his birth in 1598, others in 1587 or in 1588. It is certain that he studied at Perugia. At the age of twenty he was a doctor of civil and canon law; at twenty-two, secretary of the Congregation of the Council. He held this office for fifteen years. He fulfilled the same functions in several other Roman Congregations. It is not certain that he ever lectured on canon law at the Roman University (Sapienza). He became blind at the age of forty-four. This affliction did not prevent him from devoting himself to canonical studies and from writing a commentary of the Decretals of Gregory IX, which gained for him the title of "Doctor Caecus Oculatissimus", i.e. the blind yet most far-sighted doctor. This commentary includes interpretations of the texts of the most difficult of the Decretals of Gregory IX. It is distinguished by the clearness with which the most complex and disputed questions of canon law are explained. The work is also of great value for the purpose of ascertaining the practice of the Roman Congregations, especially that of the Congregation of the Council, of which the author quotes numerous decisions. Benedict XIV gave this work the highest praise, and its authority is still continually appealed to in the Roman Congregations. It is divided, like the Decretals of Gregory IX, into five books. The first edition was published at Rome, in 1661, under the title of "Jus canonicum seu commentaria absolutissima in quinque libros Decretalium". It has been reprinted several times. Fagnani is reproached with excessive rigour in his commentary on the chapter of the Decretals "Ne innitaris" (Book I, De constitutionibus), in which he combats the doctrine of probabilism. St. Alphonsus calls him "magnus rigoristarum princeps", the great prince of the rigorists (Homo apostolicus, Tract. I, no. 63; Theologia Moralis, IV, no. 669).

A. VAN HOVE