Serafino Secchi (died 1628) was the

Master of the Order of Preachers The Master of the Order of Preachers is the Superior General of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominican Order, Dominicans. The Master of the Order of Preachers is ''ex officio'' Chancellor (education), Grand Chancellor of the Pont ...

from 1612 to 1628. He was from

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

and a member of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

.Benedict M. Ashley, ''The Dominicans'', ch. 6
Immediately before being elected master at the

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of 1612, he had been the procurator general of the previous master, Agostino Galamini. At the chapter of 1612,

Philip III of Spain Philip III (; 14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621) was King of Spain and King of Portugal, Portugal (where he is known as Philip II of Portugal) during the Iberian Union. His reign lasted from 1598 until his death in 1621. He held dominion over the S ...

pushed for a Spanish candidate for master, but the chapter nevertheless chose Secchi, another Italian. While he was master, the French nicknamed him "Le Sec" (The Dry One) because of his good memory and attention to detail. During his mastership, all non-Dominicans were barred from preaching in Dominican churches. He created special courses on preaching for the first time in the order's history. He forbade any member of the order to appeal to the

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without having first appealed a case to the order's procurator general. He died in 1628.

References

1628 deaths Italian Dominicans Masters of the Order of Preachers Year of birth unknown {{Italy-RC-clergy-stub