Ippolito Maria Beccaria

Ippolito Maria Beccaria was born in Mondovì in 1550, the son of Enrichetto Beccaria and his wife Caterina Donzelli.[1]

He joined the Dominican Order in 1564 at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.[1] He then studied at the University of Bologna, then became a professor of theology.[1] He later became Master of the Sacred Palace.[1] He was then prior of Santa Sabina. At a provincial chapter held in Mantua in 1584, he was elected master of the province of Lombardy, as the preferred candidate of Pope Sixtus V and Cardinal Bonelli.[1] He served as the inquisitor of Milan in 1588.[1]

On 21 May 1589 a general chapter of the Dominican Order elected Beccaria as Master of the Order of Preachers.[1] He began a visitation of the Kingdom of Naples on 22 June 1589. On 28 April 1591 he began a visitation to the monasteries of northern Italy.[1] On 3 April 1592 he returned to Rome to pay homage to Pope Clement VIII.[1] He spent 5 May to 1 July 1592 at a chapter held in Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice. On 22 March 1593 he began a visitation of the Dominican monasteries in Austria, Bohemia, and Poland. He traveled to Genoa in January 1596.[1] He then went to Spain, where he visited their convents until 1598. He returned to Rome in October 1598.[1]

In 1598, a dispute developed between the Dominicans and the Jesuits about the thought of Luis de Molina.[1] On 1 January 1599 Pope Clement VIII called Beccaria and the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Claudio Acquaviva, before him to discuss the issue of Molinism; the meeting was held before the pope on 22 February 1599.[1]

On 21 December 1599 he was given the task of deciding what to do with Giordano Bruno.[1]

He held a chapter of the Dominican Order that met in Naples beginning on Pentecost 1600.[1] Beccaria died in Naples on 3 August 1600.[1]