Santarelli, Antonio

Santarelli, Antonio, An Italian Jesuit, was born in 1569, at Atri, kingdom of Naples. At the age of sixteen he entered the Society of Jesus, and later taught belles lettres and theology at Rome. He died there Dec. 5, 1649. He was the author of a work which at the time attracted much attention — De Hoeresi, Schismate, Apostasia, et Sollicitatione in Sacramento Poenitentioe, et de Potestate Summi Pontificis in his Delictis Puniendis. In 1626 it was censured by the Sorbonne, and the Parliament of Paris condemned it to the flames. Santarelli held that the power of the pope extended even above that of the sovereign, and the doctrine was even opposed by the Jesuits themselves when they saw their confrere denounced by the faculties of all the principal universities. Santarelli wrote some smaller works in Italian.