Alessandro Gavazzi (21 March 18099 January 1889) was an Italian preacher and patriot. He at first became a monk (1825), and attached himself to the
Barnabites at
Naples, where he afterwards (1829) acted as professor of rhetoric.
He left the church, and became best known as a provocative speaker against Catholicism, touring Europe and the United States. Protests against him broke out in Canada in 1853, causing numerous deaths in the
Gavazzi Riots
The Gavazzi Riots were disturbances created in Quebec and Montreal in June 1853 by mobs which attacked halls in which ex-Catholic monk Alessandro Gavazzi was lecturing.
Overview
During the spring of 1853 Alessandro Gavazzi, an Italian patriot ...
.
Biography
In 1840, having already expressed
liberal views, he was removed to Rome to fill a subordinate position. Leaving his own country after the capture of Rome by the French, he carried on a vigorous campaign against priests and
Jesuits in England, Scotland and North America, partly by means of a periodical, the ''Gavazzi Free Word''.
While in England he gradually went over (1855) to the Evangelical church, and became head and organizer of the Italian
Protestants in London. Returning to Italy in 1860, he served as army-chaplain with
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...
. In 1870 he became head of the Free Church (''Chiesa libera'') of Italy, united the scattered Congregations into the Unione delle Chiese libere in Italia, and in 1875 founded in Rome the theological college of the Free Church, in which he himself taught dogmatics, apologetics and polemics. He died in Rome on 9 January 1889, aged 79.
Among his publications are ''No Union with Rome'' (1871); ''The Priest in Absolution'' (1877); ''My Recollections of the Last Four Popes, etc.'', ''in answer to Cardinal Wiseman'' (1858); ''Orations, 2 decades'' (1851).
Gavazzi Riots
In the spring of 1853, Gavazzi visited North America.
Gavazzi Riots
The Gavazzi Riots were disturbances created in Quebec and Montreal in June 1853 by mobs which attacked halls in which ex-Catholic monk Alessandro Gavazzi was lecturing.
Overview
During the spring of 1853 Alessandro Gavazzi, an Italian patriot ...
were disturbances created in
Quebec on 6 June 1853, and in
Montreal, on 9 June, by mobs which attacked halls in which Gavazzi was lecturing. His lectures at Quebec and Montreal were strongly
anti-Catholic; and at both places the soldiers had to be called out to restore order. At Montreal, 10 lives were lost. The riots also caused political repercussions.
[W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of Canada'', Vol. III, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 396p., pg. 13.]
References
Further reading
* Luigi Santini: ''Alessandro Gavazzi. Aspetti del problema religioso del Risorgimento''. Modena: Soc. tipogr. ed. modenese, 1955.
* Robert Sylvain: ''Alessandro Gavazzi 1809–1889. Clerc, Garibaldien, prédicant des deux mondes.; 30 illustr. documentaires.'' Québec: Centre pédagogique, 1962.
External links
The Gavazzi Riots and their Consequences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gavazzi, Alessandro
1809 births
1889 deaths
Critics of the Catholic Church
People from Bologna
Converts to Protestantism from Roman Catholicism
Italian Free Protestants
Italian republicans