Paolo Segneri (21 March 1624 – 9 December 1694) was an Italian Jesuit preacher, missionary, and ascetical writer.

He volunteered for the foreign missions, but Tuscany, the Papal States, and the chief cities of Italy were to be the scene of his labours.

He preached at first in the great cathedrals, and then for twenty-seven years (1665–92) gave popular missions with an eloquence surpassed only by his holiness.

New York, 1874) was read and admired by Antonio Pignatelli, who as Pope Innocent XII summoned the missionary to preach before him, and made him theologian of the Paenitentiaria.

Segneri's biographer, Massei, states that "Le Prediche dette nei palazzo apostolico" (Rome, 1694) won the admiration of the pontiff and his Court.

The "Quaresimale", "the Prediche", the "Panegyrici Sacri" (Florence, 1684, translated by Father Humphrey, London, 1877), stamp him as a great orator.

In his theological discussion with his superior-general, Thyrsus Gonzalez, who was a firm champion of Probabiliorism, he combined the respect and obedience of the subject with the independence of the trained thinker (cf.