MUSSO, CORNELIUS

Theologian; b. Piacenza, April 16, 1511; d. Rome, Jan. 9, 1574. He joined the Conventual Franciscans at Piacenza, studied at the University of Padua, and taught metaphysics at the University of Pavia and theology at the University of Bologna. He was consecrated bishop of Bertinoro in 1541, and was transferred to Bitonto in 1544. Musso gave the inaugural address at the Council of trent, and thereafter played a considerable role in the procedural sessions. He took a particularly active part in the discussions on the sources of revelation, original sin, justification, and the Sacraments. At the end of the council, he returned to his diocese to begin the work of reform. Opposition from the court of Naples forced him to give up this work and resign his see in 1572. His sermons fill eight volumes. Musso is faithful to bonaventure and duns scotus in theology; his chief works are: the De Deo Uno et Trino (Venice 1585), Commentaria in b. Pauli Epistolam ad Romanos (Venice 1588), and De Divina Historia Libri III (Venice 1585, 1587).

Bibliography: c. e. norman, Humanist Taste and Franciscan Values: Cornelio Musso and Catholic Preaching in Sixteenth-Century Italy (New York 1998). g. de rosa, "Il Francescano Cornelio Musso dal Concilio di Trento al Dioceso di Bitonto," Rivista di storia della Chiesa in Italia 40 (1986) 55–91. r. j. bartman, "Cornelius Musso, Tridentine Theologian and Orator," Franciscan Studies 5 (1945) 247–276. g. odoardi, "Fra Cornelio Musso, O. F. M. Conv. Padre, oratore e teologo al Concilio di Trento," Miscellanea Francescana 48 (1948) 223–242, 450–478; 49 (1949) 36–71.

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