NACCHIANTI, GIACOMO (NACLANTUS)

Theologian; b. Florence, c. 1500; d. Chioggia, March 6, 1569. In 1518 he joined the Dominican Order and in 1544 was named bishop of Chioggia. During the first phase of the Council of trent he intervened vehemently, although not always opportunely. Besides opposing the privileges accorded by the council to mitred abbots, he attacked the propositions of those council fathers who wanted to place simple tradition on a plane with inspired Scripture, describing them as impious. Three days later he submitted with exemplary humility to the final decree. For a time his teaching remained suspect, and an inquiry was conducted in Nacchianti's diocese in 1548 and 1549. After the favorable outcome of the inquiry, Nacchianti played an important role in the 1562 session of the council. He contributed to the disciplinary discussion on the question of bishops' residing in their dioceses and the doctrinal discussion on the Last Supper as a sacrifice. When he returned to his diocese after the council, he applied its decrees zealously. His principal works, printed originally in Venice (1567), are the Ennarrationes in Epist. ad Ephesios, Ennarrationes in Epist. ad Romanos, Sacrae Scripturae medulla, and the Tractationes XVIII theologales variae. Though faithful to St. Thomas, Nacchianti nonetheless fused abundant scriptural material into a synthesis of his own.

Bibliography: j. quÉtif and j. Échard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum, 5 v. (Paris 1719–23) 2.1:202–203. m. m. gorce, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al., 15 v. (Paris 1903–50; Tables générales 1951–) 11.1:2–3.

[w. d. hughes]