Sfondrata, Celestine

Sfondrata, Celestine prince abbot of St. Gall, and nephew of Gregory XIV, was born at Milan in 1644. He was educated in the abbey of St. Gall, taught theology, philosophy, and canon law at various places, and was elected prince-abbot of St. Gall in 1689. In 1695 Innocent XII made Sfondrata a cardinal, but he died soon after his promotion, in the same year, at Rome. Sfondrata wrote, Regale Sacerdotium Romano Pontifici Assertum et Quatuor Propositionibus Explicatum (1684), which is a defence of the absolute supremacy of the pope over and against the pretensions of the Gallican Church. Five French bishops refuted this work: — Nodus Praedestinationis . . . Dissolutus (Rome, 1696; Venice, 1698). This posthumous work was attacked by the Sorbonne, Bossuet, and others, who in vain tried to have the book put on the Index. See Moreri, Auctores Diarsii Italici (Venice, 1732), volume 6; Journal des Savants, 1698, 1708, and 1709; Lichtenberger, Encyclop. des Sciences Religieuses, s.v. (B.P.)