Giovanni Devoti

Giovanni Devoti (born July 11, 1744 in Rome , † September 18, 1820 there ) was an Italian clergyman, Bishop of Anagni and Curia Bishop .

Life

Born as the son of the Genoese Fabio Devoti and the Venetian Maddalena Stella, he came from the educated middle class. From 1755 to 1762 he studied at the Collegio Nazareno , then at the University of La Sapienza , among others with Tommaso Mamachi and Emmanuele Duni . There he received his doctorate on May 11, 1766 as Doctor iuris utriusque . Made famous by the publication of his fundamental treatise on canon law De notissimis in iure legibus 1766, he was appointed to the chair of canon law at the Sapienza in 1768 , which he held for 21 years. As an advocate for the Curia , he trained numerous clergymen, including Francesco Saverio Castiglioni, the later Pope Pius VIII , who followed him as Vicar General in Anagni.

Pope Pius VI appointed Giovanni Devoti on March 30, 1789 Bishop of Anagni and on April 5 of the same year as Papal Assistant to the Throne . At the age of 44 he was ordained a priest on April 19, 1789, and on May 3 of the same year in Santa Maria in Trastevere he was ordained bishop by Cardinal Hyacinthe Sigismond Gerdil ; Co-consecrators were Archbishop Ottavio Boni and Bishop Pier Luigi Galletti OSB . In November 1798, during the brief occupation of Rome by Napoleonic troops , he was appointed governor of Anagni, and during the retreat of the French he was allowed to accompany King Ferdinand IV to Palermo. He went to the conclave in Venice, but had to leave the function of secretary of the conclave to Ercole Consalvi . Then he regained the diocese of Anagni.

Pope Pius VII called him to Rome in 1804, where he was appointed titular bishop of Zela on March 26 of the same year . On May 29, 1804 he became titular archbishop of Carthage and secretary for the briefs to the princes, canons of Santa Maria Maggiore and member of the congregation for ecclesiastical immunity . He accompanied Pius VII to the imperial coronation of Napoleon I in Paris on December 2, 1804. During the French occupation of Rome, he swore the oath on the empire, initially with reservations, then unconditionally. Therefore, he was in the course of the restoration of the Papal States on November 2, 1814 as secretary for the briefs to the princes of Domenico Testa replaced, had been deported previously which to Corsica. Giovanni Devoti retired to his retirement home and died in 1820. He was buried in the Roman church of Sant'Eustachio .

Works

• De notissimis in iure legibus. Rome 1766; New editions until 1826
• Institutionum canonicarum libri quatuor. Rome 1785, 4 volumes; numerous new editions until 1826
• Juris canonici publici et privati ​​libri V. Rome, 1803–1815, 3 volumes; New edition 1837

literature

• Agostino Lauro:  Devoti, Giovanni. In: Massimiliano Pavan (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 39:  Deodato-DiFalco. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1991, pp. 598-603.
• Philippe Bountry: Prélats Référendaires et officers de curie en fonctions sous la restauration (1814–1846) . In: Souverain et pontife. Recherches prosopographiques sur la Curie Romaine à l'âge de la Restoration (1814–1846) . École française de Rome, Rome 2002, margin no. 219–220 (French, online edition [accessed November 20, 2018]). (The date of birth is June 11th).

Web links

• Entry on Giovanni Devoti on catholic-hierarchy.org ; accessed on November 20, 2018.
• Publications by Devoti in the Opac des Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN)

predecessor	Office	successor
Cirillo Antonino	Bishop of Anagni 1789–1804	Gioacchino Tosa