Pius Melia

Pius Melia (b. at Rome, 12 January 1800; d. in London, June 1883) was an Italian Jesuit theologian.

Life

Melia entered the Society of Jesus on 14 August 1815, taught literature at Reggio, and afterwards was engaged in preaching. He left the Society in 1853.

He wrote several books and was known for his controversy with Antonio Rosmini-Serbati and his doctrine on original sin; Melia's book repudiating this doctrine was answered by Rosmini (Milan, 1841) and Pagani (Milan, 1842); then began a bitter controversy which had to be ended by a direct command of Pope Pius IX.

Works

His works include: (Lucca, 1847), a defence of the Society of Jesus Doctrines of St. Thomas Aquinas on the Rulers and Members of Christian States Extracted and Explained (1864) The Origin, Persecutions And Doctrines Of The Waldenses (1870)

In his Life of Rosmini, William Lockhart declares that Alcune affirmazioni del Sig. Antonio Rosmini-Serbati was not written by Melia, but by other Italian Jesuits; Augustin de Backer, in his , attributed it to Passaglia, but his , re-edited by Carlos Sommervogel, follows Paolo Beorchia who attributes it to Melia.