Paul of Venice

Paul of Venice or Paulus Venetus (1368-1428) was a Roman Catholic theologian and logician of the Hermits of the Order of Saint Augustine.

Life

He was born, according to the chroniclers of his order, at Udine, about 1368 and died at Venice on June 15, 1428. He joined the Augustinian order at around 14, at the convent of Santo Stefano in Venice. In 1390 he is said to have been sent to Oxford for his studies in theology, but returned to Italy, and finished his course at Padua. He lectured in the University at Padua during the first quarter of the fifteenth century.

Paul was one of the theologians called to Rome in 1427 by Pope Martin V, to take cognizance of the charges brought against St. Bernardino of Siena, occasioned by Bernardino's use of inscriptions of the name of Jesus in worship.

Works

His writings, aside from any question of their present worth, show a wide knowledge and interest in the scientific problems of his time.

Besides the usual lectures on the four books of "Sentences", sermons, and instructions, he wrote "De Conceptione B. Mariae Virginis", "De quadratura circuli", "De circulis componentibus mundum", and "Logica parva et logica magna". This last, also known as "Logica Duplex", was largely used as a textbook during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and was several times reprinted.