Passerani, Alberto Radicati

Passerani, Alberto Radicati,

Count of, was an Italian philosopher, born in Piedmont, who lived in the last century. Attached to the house of king Victor Amadeus II, he was concerned in the differences which arose between that prince and the holy chair on the subject of consistorial benefices, and wrote against the court of Rome pamphlets so violent that, in consequence of a suit which was brought against him, the tribunal of the Inquisition ordered the seizure of his goods. But he was enabled to escape the effect of this judgment, and fled to England, where he allied himself with Collins, Tindal, and other freethinkers. He died in Holland, and bequeathed all that he possessed to the poor. We have several works of his in French, in which are found a singular mixture of invectives against the clergy, plans of reform, and philosophical ideas; of these we quote Dissertation sur la mort (Rotterdam, 1733). This tract, advocating materialism, justifying suicide, and denying human responsibility, was suppressed. We quote again of his works: a Recueil de pieces curieuses (ibid. 1736, 8vo), and a supposed translation under the title of La Religion Mohammedane comparee a la Pa'lenne (1737, 8vo). See Factum prefixed to the Recueil of 1736.