ACHILLI, GIACINTO. - A Dominican from Viterbo, who during the Roman Republic (February-July 1849) became a propagator of Protestantism in Italy. Once the republic fell, he was imprisoned. Father Theiner, an Oratorian, tried in vain to turn him from his error. Having escaped from prison and taken refuge in London, he set about spreading calumnies against the Church, the Inquisition and the Pope. Cardinal Wiseman, in a hasty article in The Dublin Review, unmasked him. The A., paying no heed to this, went to repeat his calumnies in Birmingham, where Newman was rector of the local Oratory of the Filippini. Newman rose up and, in his turn, reiterated the accusations already made by Cardinal Wiseman, revealing the far from edifying life of the A., with precise details.
The A.'s supporters persuaded him to appeal in a court of law, and so began (March 1851) a legal case in which all the anti-Catholic passions were stirred up against the animator of the "Oxford Movement." Pusey called that trial "the greatest event since the Reformation."
Having reached London for the trial, Newman was able to write: "At the moment of appearing before my judges, I know that ten thousand Catholic hearts accompany me to the threshold of the court, nor do I feel anxiety or uneasiness or fear of any kind as to what may befall me." January 21-22, 1852 was the day fixed for the judgment. Five lawyers pleaded Newman's cause. The judge Coleridge, incapable of disentangling himself from sectarian prejudice, while acknowledging "the talents, the ardent piety and the holy life of Newman," nevertheless held him guilty of defamation, imposing on him a fine of 100 pounds sterling. The proof that Newman's innocence and truthfulness was admitted by all came from the fact that, on February 2, 1853, the daily Morning Chronicle disavowed the A., stating that he had no connection with Anglicanism.
The A. later died adhering to the sect of the Swedenborgians.
Bibliography7 worksA. Theiner, Dell'introduzione del protestantesimo in Italia tentata per le mene dei novelli banditori di errori nelle recenti congiunture di
BIBL.: A. Theiner, Dell'introduzione del protestantesimo in Italia tentata per le mene dei novelli banditori di errori nelle recenti congiunture di Roma, Rome 1850, pp. 240-59; N. P. Wiseman, Authentic Brief Sketch of the Life of Dr. Giacinto Achilli, London 1850; J. H. Newman, Lectures on the Position of Catholics in England, London 1851, pp. 197-98; C. E. Eardley, Imprisonment and Deliverance of Dr. Achilli with Some Accounts of his Previous History and Labours, London 1850; Esq. B. Finlinson, The Correct and Authentic Report of the Trial and Preliminary Proceedings, etc., London 1853; Jules Condon, Notice biographique sur le R. P. Newman, Paris 1853; A. Capecelatos, Newman e la religione cattolica in Inghilterra, III, Rome 1886, p. 296 ff.
Chiminelli, Piero. “Achilli, giacinto.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, coll. 223–224. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948. https://azioneromana.com/article/achilli-giacinto.
MLA
Chiminelli, Piero. “Achilli, giacinto.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948, coll. 223–224. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/achilli-giacinto.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec1_achilli_giacinto,
author = {Chiminelli, Piero},
title = {Achilli, giacinto},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {I},
pages = {223--224},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1948},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/achilli-giacinto}
}
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