Description

Oil Dedicated to Blessed Angelo Carletti di Chivasso

The Oil Dedicated to Blessed Angelo Carletti di Chivasso  the 15th century moral theologian.

Angelo was a moral theologian of the order of Friars Minor.  He was born at Chivasso in Piedmont, in 1411.  He died at Coni, in Piedmont, in 1495.  From his tenderest years the Angelo was remarkable for the holiness and purity of his life. He attended the University of Bologna.  There he received the degree of Doctor of Civil and Cannon Law.  At the age of thirty he entered the Order of Friars Minor.  Subsequently, his virtues and learning gained the confidence of his brethren.  He was four times chosen to fill the office of vicar-general of the order.

In 1480 the Turks under Mahout II took possession of Otranto.  Angelo was appointed Apostolic Nuncio by Pope Sixtus IV.   Also, he was commissioned to preach a holy war against the invaders.  However, Mahomet died and the Turkish forces retired from the Italian peninsula.  This gave evidences that God favoured his mission. Again, in 1491, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio.  However, this was conjointly with the Bishop of Mauriana.  Their mission was to prevent the spread of the heretical doctrines of the Waldenses.

Angelo’s writings

It was perhaps by his writings that Blessed Angelo rendered the greatest service to religion.  Also, by far the most noted of these is the “Summa Angelica”. The first edition of the “Summa Angelica” appeared in the year 1476.  From that year to the year 1520 it went through thirty-one editions.  Twenty-five of which preserved in the Royal Library at Munich. The “Summa” divided into six hundred and fifty-nine articles. They arranged in alphabetical order.  Consequently, they form what would now called a dictionary of moral theology .

The most valuable and most important of these articles the one entitled “Interrogations in Confession”. It serves, in a way, as an index to the whole work.  The character of the work of Bl. Angelo as a theologian can  deduced from this.  Also, one impressed with the gravity and fairness that characterised his opinions throughout. Benedict XIII approved the cult that had for long paid by the people of Chivasso and Coni.  The latter chose him as their special patron.  His feast kept on 12 April throughout the order of Friars Minor .

Tradition of oils

The tradition of anointing with sacred oil is very old indeed. It used in sacraments and also as a devotional practice. The sick person applies the oil and blesses themselves. As they do so, they asked to pray to whomever the oil dedicated to. The Irish blessings oils do not have miraculous power.  It is God who has the power to heal.  Applying the oil while praying are important ways for us to express our faith in God’s power. Moreover, by doing so we place our trust in God.