Benedetto Bonazzi (

Marigliano Marigliano is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy. The town lies 19 km from Naples. Nearby towns include: Acerra, Brusciano, Mariglianella, Nola, San Vitaliano, Scisciano, Somma Vesuviana. Main ...

, 12 October 1840 – Benevento, 23 April 1915) was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

and Italian

Hellenist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient ...

Biography

Bonazzi was the second of six children of Count Nicola, lord of San Nicandro and Adelaide Sorrentino of the lords of

Pomigliano Pomigliano d'Arco is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples in Italy, located north of Mount Vesuvius. It is known for its industrial pole among the largest and most influential in southern Italy. In the industrial area there is, amon ...

. At the age of seven he was admitted to the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

abbey of

La Trinità della Cava La Trinità della Cava ( la, Abbatia Territorialis Sanctissimae Trinitatis Cavensis), commonly known as Badia di Cava, is a Benedictine territorial abbey located near Cava de' Tirreni, in the province of Salerno, southern Italy. It stands in a go ...

Cava de' Tirreni Cava de' Tirreni (; Cilentan: ''A Càva'') is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Campania, Italy, in the province of Salerno, northwest of the town of Salerno. It lies in a richly cultivated valley surrounded by wooded hills, and is a pop ...

and on 6 November 1849 he became part of the cloistered community there. He studied at the school of the Santissima Trinità of Cava de' Tirreni and was named as a novice of Montacassino on 15 August 1859. Bonazzi specialised in the study of

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. On 19 December 1863 he was ordained at

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

by Bishop Tommaso Michele Salzano. He graduated from his studies on 12 December 1865 at the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

. As a philosopher, orator and writer he was member of several academies and cultural associations. On 27 November 1872 Bonazzi was named professor of the University of Naples, but he refused the position, preferring the school of Badia cavense, which he put in charge of in 1878, as its prefect. Bonazzi's principle interest was pedagogy. He sought to reform the system of Greek teaching in schools. He was the author of numerous scholarly texts, which inspired new methods of teaching. One of his works was commended by the 7th Italian Pedagogical congress. His most important work, which received acclaim across Europe, remains the ''Dizionario greco-italiano'', which was in print from 1880 to 1927 with twenty-five editions, by the publishers, Morano di Napoli. Simultaneously, Bonazzi's ecclesiastical career continued. In 1892 he became

Vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

of the diocese of Badia Cavense. At the death of the abbot Michele Morcaldi, on 7 March 1894,

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

appointed him abbot of the Cavense monastery. Subsequently, at the death of

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Donato Maria Dell'Olio Donato Maria Dell'Olio (Bisceglie, 27 December 1847 – Benevento, 18 January 1902) was an Italian cardinal and Catholic archbishop. Biography Dell'Olio studied at the seminary in Bisceglie and then at the Pontifical University of Saint Tho ...

, archbishop of Benevento, Leo XIII consecrated him as the replacement, on 9 June 1902. On 11 June he was ordained at the

Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls The Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls ( it, Basilica Papale di San Paolo fuori le Mura), commonly known as Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, is one of Rome's four major papal basilicas, along with the basilicas of Saint John in the ...

and he took possession of the

archdiocese of Benevento The Italian Catholic metropolitan Archdiocese of Benevento ( la, Archidioecesis Beneventana) has a long history; it now has five suffragan dioceses: the diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia, the diocese of Avellino, the diocese of Cerreto Sannita-T ...

on 24 August. After around thirteen years of episcopal government and a final

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

en sermon, Bonazzi fell ill and died during the vigil for his elevation to the rank of cardinal, which

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (Latin: ''Benedictus XV''; it, Benedetto XV), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, name=, group= (; 21 November 185422 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His ...

had ordained for him. He was buried in the church of St Clementina at Benevento.

Sources

* Simeone Leone, "Dalla fondazione del cenobio al secolo XVI," in ''La badia di Cava'', edizioni Di Mauro – Cava de' Tirreni, 1985 *

Gerardo Bianco Gerardo Bianco (12 September 1931 – 1 December 2022) was an Italian politician. Early life Bianco was born in Guardia Lombardi, Campania in Italy. Winner of a scholarship at the Augustinianum College of Catholic University of the Sacred Heart ...

Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani The ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' ( en, Biographical Dictionary of the Italians) is a biographical dictionary published by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, started in 1925 and completed in 2020. It includes about 40,000 biograp ...

'' – Volume XI (1969),

Istituto dell'Enciclopedia italiana Treccani The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' (Italian language, Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an I ...

* Ferdinando Grassi – ''I pastori della cattedra beneventana'', tip. Auxiliatrix, Benevento, 1969
Bonazzi ‹-zzi›, Benedetto
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'',

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonazzi, Benedetto 1840 births 1915 deaths Archbishops of Benevento Scholars of Ancient Greek Italian lexicographers Italian Benedictines People from Marigliano