Umberto Benigni, circa 1910 Umberto Benigni 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 ...

priest and Church historian, who was born on 30 March 1862 in

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and died on 27 February 1934 in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Biography

A lecturer in

Church history __NOTOC__ Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritua ...

from 1885, one year after his ordination to the priesthood, he also engaged in journalism, at first locally, and became in 1893 editor in chief of the national daily newspaper '' L'Eco d'Italia''. Due to a conflict with the Archbishop of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

, he moved to Rome in 1895, working at first as an assistant in the historical research section of the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

. In 1900 he began contributing to the newspaper '' La Voce della Verità'', becoming its director in 1901, the same year in which he also became Professor of Church History at the seminary of the

Diocese of Rome The Diocese of Rome ( la, Dioecesis Urbis seu Romana; it, Diocesi di Roma) is the ecclesiastical district under the direct jurisdiction of the Pope, who is Bishop of Rome and hence the supreme pontiff and head of the worldwide Catholic Church ...

. In 1902 he was given a position in the Roman Curia, and in 1906 was promoted to the post of Undersecretary of the

Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs The Section for Relations with States or Second Section of the Secretariat of State is the body within the Roman Curia charged with dealing with matters that involve relations with civil governments. It has been part of the Vatican Secretariat o ...

, the forerunner of what is today the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State.

Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

Benigni proved to have special gifts for relations with the press. Beginning in 1907, he provided a daily news bulletin, '' La Corrispondenza di Roma'', which became from 1909 to 1912 ''La Correspondance de Rome'' and in 1913-1914 ''Cahiers de Rome''. This gave him influence over the contents of publications in many countries. He set up among his contacts the

Sodalitium Pianum ''Sodalitium Pianum'' is Latin for "the fellowship of Pius," referring to Pope Pius V; the sedeprivationist organization with the same name refers to Pope Pius X. In reaction to the movement within the Roman Catholic Church known as Modernism, P ...

(Fellowship of Pius X), to report to him those thought to be teaching

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

doctrines. His influence waned during the pontificate of

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 ...

(1914 - 1922) making him ecclesiastically an isolated figure. He became close to the Fascist movement (in 1923 he founded the ''Entente romaine de Défense social'') seeing in it an ally for his anti-Modernist and anti-liberal aims. The writings and other documents in the possession of Monsignor Benigni at his death in 1934 can be consulted at the

Vatican Secret Archives The Vatican Apostolic Archive ( la, Archivum Apostolicum Vaticanum; it, Archivio Apostolico Vaticano), formerly known as the Vatican Secret Archive, is the central repository in the Vatican City of all acts promulgated by the Holy See. The Pont ...

.The Archive Fonds
He's the great-uncle of actor

Roberto Benigni Roberto Remigio Benigni (; born 27 October 1952) is an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. He gained international recognition for writing, directing and starring in the Holocaust comedy-drama film ''Life Is Beautiful'' (1997), f ...

References

External links

* , of which the above article is a summary. {{DEFAULTSORT:Benigni, Umberto 1862 births 1934 deaths People from Perugia Modernism in the Catholic Church Catholicism and far-right politics