Bartolommeo Fumo

Drawn from the authors' own words; every quotation links to its place.

Dominican · ?–1545

In Prümmer's Catalogue and Haringer's Index

“Fumus, Barthol., O.P., Italian (d. 1545), wrote Summa theologiae moralis, which is called Aurea armilla and has often been edited, for example Venice 1596. It treats moral matters in alphabetical order.” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
[**: weighty, probabilist] “Fumus Bartholomaeus, Italian, Dominican and inquisitor general. He is also called Armilla from his summa so named, died 1545.” — Haringer's index of writers (Gury-Ballerini) (p. XVIII, 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.

He wrote before the moral systems were formed (Medina first set out probabilism in 1577), so what is reported here is how each author reads the principles he followed, not a system he held. Our authors read him differently.

Before the systems: cited for probabilism
“Fumus Bartholomaeus, Italian, Dominican and inquisitor general. He is also called Armilla from his summa so named, died 1545.”Haringer marks him **, giving St. Alphonsus's judgment of him (weighty and probabilist)	Haringer's index, Index of writers, p. XVIII
Before the systems: cited for the safer part
“Yet several continued to adhere to the safer part, as Dionysius the Carthusian, Bartholomaeus Fumus, and Adrian VI”Merkelbach: he continued to adhere to the safer part	Merkelbach, Summa II, excursus on the moral systems

Where Our Authors Discuss Him

Each read in its full passage; the words quoted are the author's own. Where several authors say the same thing, one is quoted and the others follow “in nearly the same words”; point at a name to see his words.

“Comitolus taught probabiliorism and attributed the doctrine of probabilism quite falsely, to what he calls the shameful lapse of Armilla”Slater: Comitolus falsely blamed probabilism on the “shameful lapse” of the Armilla	Slater, Short History, ¶ 87
“Now he is esteemed a great theologian who possesses the greatest authority among theologians on account of his distinguished doctrine, prudence, and probity”Konings names him among the great theologians whose word that an opinion is probable makes it so	Konings, Compendium, n. 57

In the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)

“Bartolommeo Fumo”, vol. 6, by Ignatius Smith. Public domain; transcription at New Advent (which expands some of the print's abbreviations).

A theologian, b. at Villon near Piacenza; d. 1545. At an early age he entered the Dominican Order and made great progress in all the ecclesiastical sciences, but especially in canon law. He was distinguished as an inquisitor at Piacenza, but is best known for his work, "Summa casuum conscientiae, aurea armilla dicta". This work, which was dedicated to Bishop Catelan of Piacenza, went through many editions, the two most important and best known being those of Antwerp (1591) and Lyons (1594). It was held in high esteem by all the canonists of the time, especially because it contained, in brief and compendious form, a digest of all similar explanations since the thirteenth century. In one or two places, by a series of clean cut sentences, he refutes all the errors of probabilism. The authorship of the work has been disputed by one or two, but without reason. He is also the author of "Expositio compendiosa in epistolas in Pauli et canonicas", and book entitled, "Poemata qaedam". His first work, "Philothea, opus immortalis animi dignitatem continens", was dedicated to Catalan before he became bishop.