Felix Filliucius

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

(Or, as his name is more often found, in its Italian form, FIGLIUCCI).

An Italian humanist, a philosopher, and theologian of note, was b. at Siena about the year 1525; supposed to have d. at Florence c. 1590. He completed his studies in philosophy at Padua and was for a time in the service of Cardinal Del Monte, afterwards Julius III. In spite of the fact that he gained a great reputation as an orator and poet, and had a wide knowledge of Greek, no mention of his name is found in such standard works on the Renaissance as Burchardt, Voigt (Die Wiederbelebung des class. Alterthums), and Belloni (Il Seicento). After having enjoyed the pleasures of the worldly life at the court in 1551 he entered the Dominican convent at Florence, where he assumed the name Alexus. His works are both original in Italian and translations into that language from the Greek. Worthy of mention are: "Il Fedro, ovvero del bello" (Rome, 1544); "Delle divine lettere del gran Marsilio Ficino" (Venice, 1548); "Le undici Filippiche di Demostene dichiarate" (Rome, 1550); "Della Filosofia morale d'Aristotile" (Rome, 1551); "Della Politica, ovvero Scienza civile secondo la dottrina d'Aristotile, libri VIII scritti in modo di dialogo" (Venice, 1583). Filliucius attended the Council of Trent, where he delivered a remarkable Latin oration and, at the order of St. Pius V, translated into Italian, under his cloister name of Alexus, the Latin Catechism of the Council of Trent (Catechismo, cioe istruzione secondo il decreto del concilio di Trento, Rome, 1567), often reprinted.

JOSEPH DUNN