PIGGE, ALBERT (PIGHIUS)

Theologian and humanist; b. Kampen, province of Overijssel, Netherlands, c. 1490; d. Utrecht, Dec. 29, 1542. Pigge studied at louvain where he became master of arts in 1509, but the date of his ordination is unknown. After a stay of several years in Paris, he went to Rome in 1522. Through his writings, as an adviser to papal nuncios, and by his participation in religious dialogues, he contributed much to the Catholic position in the 16th century.

Within the Church he belongs to the most caustic exponents of the papal system, which he especially defended in his principal work, Hierarchiae ecclesiasticae assertio (Cologne 1538). On the problem of justification he supported the viewpoint of double justice, which was condemned at the Council of trent. His interpretation of papal infallibility went far beyond the then–current opinion and questioned even the possibility that a pope could be capable of heresy. By his thorough study of the cases of liberius, anastasius ii, honorius i, and john xxii, he attempted to prove that no pope had been a heretic. His views were accepted by many theologians, especially Robert bellarmine, and he was one of the more frequently quoted authors at the Council of Trent.

Pigge's critical examination of sources won him a recognized place in Church history. His theory that the acts of the councils of nicaea ii and constantinople iv, which condemned Pope Honorius I, had been falsified was still current even in the 19th century. Several of his works, De libero hominis arbitrio (Cologne 1542) and the disputed passage on original sin in his Controversiarum praecipuarum … explicatio (Cologne 1541), were placed on the Lisbon index of 1624.

Bibliography: Works. a. pigge, Adversus novam Marci Beneventani astronomiam (Paris 1522); Apologia indicti a Paulo III… concilii (Paris 1538); Adversus furiosissimum libellum Henrici Angliae regis et senatus eius in Concilium Tridentinum. Diariorum, actorum, epistularum, tractatuum nova collectio, ed. gÖrres–gesellschaft (Freiburg 1901–38) 12:774–810. Literature. É. amann, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al., (Paris 1903–50) 12.2:2094–2104. h. jedin, Studien über die Schriftstellertätigkeit Albert Pigges (Münster 1931). l. pfeifer, Ursprung der katholischen Kirche und Zugehörigkeit zur Kirche nach Albert Pigge (Würzburg 1938). j. feiner, Die Erbsündenlehre Albert Pigges (Zurich 1940). r. bÄumer, "Die Wiederantdeckung der Honoriusfrage im Abendland," Römische Quartalschrift für Christliche Altertumskunde und für Kirchengeschichte 56 (1961) 200–214; "Die Auseinandersetzungen über die römische Petrustradition in den ersten Jahrzehnten der Reformationszeit," ibid. 57 (1962) 20–57, esp. 51–56; Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiberg 1957–65) 8:502.

[r. bÄumer]