Albert Pighius (Pigghe) (born at Kampen, Overyssel, Netherlands, about 1490; died at Utrecht, 26 December 1542) was a Dutch Roman Catholic theologian, mathematician, and astronomer.
He studied philosophy and began the study of theology at the Catholic University of Leuven, where Adrian of Utrecht, later Pope Adrian VI, was one of his teachers. Pighius completed his studies at Cologne, but it is not clear whether he received the degree of Doctor of Theology. When his teacher Adrian became pope, he went to Rome, where he also remained during the reigns of Pope Clement VII and Pope Paul III, and was repeatedly employed in ecclesiastical-political embassies. He had taught mathematics to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, afterward Paul III. In 1535 Paul III appointed him provost of St. John's at Utrecht, where he had held a canonry since 1524. At the conference of Ratisbon in 1541, he was on the Catholic side.
Among his writings the following belong to the sphere of his mathematical/astronomical studies:
As a theologian he defended the authority of the Catholic Church against the Reformers. His most important theological work is a rejoinder to Henry VIII of England titled "Hierarchiæ ecclesiasticæ assertio" (Cologne, 1538, dedicated to Paul III; later editions, 1544, 1558, 1572). In reply John Leland wrote his "Antiphilarchia".[1]
Pighius also wrote:
Other theological works were:
A treatise "Adversus Græcorum errores", dedicated to Clement VII, is preserved in manuscript in the Vatican Library.
Pighius held that original sin was the inherited sin of Adam but did not convey any inherent taint of sinfulness to the recipient.[2]
He originated the doctrine of the double righteousness by which man is justified, that has been characterized as "semi-Lutheranism". According to this theory, the imputed righteousness of Christ is the formal cause of the justification of man before God, while the individual righteousness inherent in man is always imperfect and therefore insufficient. These opinions of Pighius were adopted by Johannes Gropper and Cardinal Contarini; during the discussion at the Council of Trent of the "Decretum de Justificatione" they were maintained by Girolamo Seripando, but the Council rejected the compromise theory.
His correspondence was published by Friedensburg, Beiträge sum Briefwechsel der kathol. Gelehrten Deutschlands im Reformationszeitalter in Zeitschrift für Kirchengesch., XXIII (1902), 110-55.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Albert (Pigghe) Pighius". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.