AUGUSTINE (TRIUMPHUS) OF ANCONA

Augustinian philosopher; b. Ancona, c. 1241; d. Naples, April 2, 1328. In 1297 he was made lector in his order. He read the Sentences for two years in Paris and became master of theology c. 1314. Assigned to Naples in 1321, he served also as counselor to King Robert. In 1326 Augustine published his celebrated treatise Summa de ecclesiastica potestate, reputed to be the earliest work of its kind on the Roman pontiff. He was called "the most encyclopedic and prolific theologian of the school of Giles" (M. Grabmann), though many of his works, including treatises on philosophy, Scripture, and Canon Law, remain unpublished. He undertook the earliest concordance of the writings of St. augustine, the Milleloquium veritatis, which was completed by his pupil bartholomew of urbino. Although medieval historians acknowledge his merits as an exegete and Aristotelian commentator, Augustine remains best known for his political doctrines on the nature and extent of papal authority. Carrying the theocratic principles of his predecessors, giles of rome and james of viterbo, to their extreme conclusions, Augustine contended that all power, spiritual and temporal, resides in the pope, and that through him alone (mediante ipso ) other rulers, both religious and lay, derive their authority. Thus, for example, the grant of Constantine to Pope Silverius was in no sense a donation but rather the restoration of alienated property to its lawful possessor.

See Also: augustinianism.

Bibliography: Works. Summa de potestate ecclesiastica (Rome 1584); Tractatus brevis de duplici potestate praelatarum et laicorum, ed. n. scholz in Die Publizistik zur Zeit Philipps des Schönen und Bonifaz VIII (Stuttgart 1903) 486–501. Literature. b. ministeri, "De A. de A. vita et operibus," Analecta Augustiniana 7 (1952) 7–56, the only modern critical study on Augustine's life and works. m. j. wilks, The Problem of Sovereignty in the Latin Middle Ages: The Papal Monarchy with Augustinus Triumphus and the Publicists (New York 1963). u. mariani, Chiesa e Stato nei teologi Agostiniani del secolo XIV (Rome 1957). a. mcgrade, "William of Ockham and Augustinus de Ancona on the Righteousness of Dissent," Franciscan Studies 54.

[r. p. russell]