Francesco Negri (Antitrinitarian)

Francesco Negri (c. 1500 – 1563) was an Italian humanist, reformer, and Antitrinitarian. He is primarily known for his advocacy of Socinian views, predating and contributing to the later development of Socinianism in Poland.

Negri was born in Bassano del Grappa, Italy. He initially entered a Benedictine monastery, but later embraced Reformation ideals and abandoned monastic life. His early religious development was influenced by the writings of Erasmus. He fled Italy due to persecution of Protestants and ultimately settled in Chiavenna, in the Graubünden region of Switzerland, which offered relative religious tolerance.

In Chiavenna, Negri served as a schoolmaster and pastor. He dedicated himself to studying the Bible and developing his theological views, which increasingly diverged from traditional Trinitarian dogma. He questioned the divinity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity, embracing a more Unitarian understanding of God. He believed that the Bible should be interpreted rationally and historically, rejecting interpretations based on tradition and philosophical speculation.

Negri's most important work is Tragoedia de Libero Arbitrio (1546), a dramatic dialogue written in Latin, which explores the concepts of free will and predestination. While not explicitly Antitrinitarian, it lays the groundwork for his later theological positions by questioning traditional Augustinian views on grace and human nature. His Antitrinitarian views are most clearly expressed in his manuscript De Satisfactione Christi (On the Satisfaction of Christ), which argued against the necessity of Christ's atoning sacrifice for the sins of humanity. He contended that God's forgiveness is granted through repentance and obedience, not through a vicarious sacrifice. This placed him in direct opposition to orthodox Protestant theology.

Negri's views were controversial and he faced opposition from both Catholic and Protestant theologians. He associated with other radical reformers and Anabaptists, further contributing to his marginalization. He maintained correspondence with figures like Bernardino Ochino, who shared similar reformist sympathies.

Negri died in Chiavenna in 1563. While his writings were not widely published during his lifetime, they circulated among other dissenting thinkers and influenced the development of Antitrinitarian thought in subsequent generations. His ideas are seen as precursors to Socinianism, a rationalist Unitarian theology that gained prominence in Poland in the late 16th century. Although not a founder of Socinianism, Francesco Negri's intellectual contributions and his uncompromising stance on biblical interpretation and theological inquiry made him an important figure in the history of Antitrinitarianism.