**al-Ghazzālī, Abū l-Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī.** – One of the greatest philosophers, mystics, and theologians of Arabic-speaking Islam, well known to Latin scholasticism, notably to St Thomas, under the name of Algazel or Algazelus. Born in Ṭūs in 1058, died there in 1111. Professor of theology in Baghdad, he embraced Sufism, then traveled to Syria, Mecca, and other places, dedicating himself entirely to ascetic and literary life. Finally, after teaching again in Nayshābūr in Persia, he retired with some disciples to a religious life in his native city.
His doctrine is characterized by the primacy granted to the heart and feeling over intellect and reason, to religion and relationship over philosophy, to morality and ascetic life over formalistic rites, and to interiority over externality. He was therefore an opponent of pure Aristotelianism, though his spirit was thoroughly permeated by the doctrine of Aristotle, the great educator of all Arab thinkers. To Aristotelianism he reproached its inability to demonstrate the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and other fundamental doctrines of Islamic religion. According to him, superior men must dedicate themselves to the ascetic and mystical life of Sufism, which would be the only path to moral perfection; one must, however, avoid the excesses of the pantheistic doctrines of some mystics. The influence of al-Ghazzālī on Islam has been profound and lasting; he infused into it something of the Christian spirit.
He left numerous works. Against the Aristotelianism of the Arab philosophers, he wrote the *Tahāfut al-falāsifah* (*Destrucción philosophorum*). In the *Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn* (*Revification of the Sciences of Religion*), a work likewise translated into Latin in the Middle Ages, he gives a brief overview of logic, physics, and metaphysics. The book *Al-munqidh min al-ḍalāl* (*The Deliverer from Error*) has an autobiographical character. His principal work, however, is the *Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn*, one of the most notable books of Islam, not far in some respects from Christianity, whose influence his broad and comprehensive spirit felt to a not inconsiderable degree.
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**Gazzangia, Pietro Maria.** – Dominican theologian and writer, born in Bergamo on 3 March 1722, died in Vicenza on 11 December 1709. He completed his studies in Bologna, then taught in Pavia (1747-50), Bologna (1750-53), and Genoa (1753-56), before returning to Bologna from 1756 to 1758. The following year, he was entrusted with the chair of Thomistic theology in Vienna, then newly founded by Empress Maria Theresa. He held this position until his return to Italy in 1782. The following year, he was elected Provincial of Lombardy (1783-85). He enjoyed the esteem and friendship of Pius VI, who attended his lectures in Vienna, as well as of the nuncio Garampi and Emperor Joseph II, who, after his teaching, granted him an annual pension of 300 florins.
He published the *Praelectiones theologicae* (4 vols., Vienna 1763-67; eight subsequent editions, the last in 9 vols., Bassano 1831), a treatise on God and His attributes, the Most Holy Trinity, human acts, grace, and theological virtues. Other works include *Theologia dogmatica in systema redacta* (2 vols., Vienna 1786), reprinted later, and *Theologia polemica* (2 vols., ibid. 1778-79). He was a fierce opponent of probabilism and Molinism, which led to controversies with the Jesuits, particularly Gioacchino Cortese and Gian Carlo Brignole, who accused him of Jansenism.
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**Gazzera, Costanzo.** – Priest and archaeologist, born in Bene in 1778, died in Turin on 5 May 1859. He taught in the lyceums of Alessandria, Casale, and Savigliano; later, from 1844, he was Prefect of the Library of the University of Turin and Secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences, to which he bequeathed his substantial library.
Among his various publications on historical, classical archaeology, and numismatics, his principal studies in the field of Christian antiquity include: *Dichiarazione di un dittico consolare inedito della chiesa cattedrale della città di Aosta* (in *Memorie della R. Accad. delle scienze di Torino*, 38 [1835], pp. 225-239); *Delle iscrizioni cristiane antiche del Piemonte* (ibid., 2nd series, 6 [1851], pp. 131-277); *Appendice* (ibid., pp. 293-325); *Aggiunte e correzioni al capo primo delle iscrizioni cristiane antiche del Piemonte conservate ai primi vescovi della città di Alba* (ibid., 2nd series, 17 [1862], pp. 1-22); *La parte con il titolo Delle iscrizioni cristiane antiche del Piemonte e della inedita epigrafe di Rustico vescovo di Torino del settimo secolo* (Turin 1849).
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**Gdańsk: V. Danzica (Gdańsk, Danzig), Diocese of.**
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**Gebhard II, Bishop of Constance, Saint.** – Born at Pfannenberg, near Bregenz, of a noble comital family, around the middle of the 10th century, died at Constance on 27 August 995. Educated in his youth by St Conrad, Bishop of Constance, he attended the school attached to the episcopal see. His membership in the Order of St Benedict, asserted by some authors, was already denied by Mabillon.
Elected Bishop of Constance in 979 or 980, favored also by Emperor Otto II, he induced his brothers to an amicable partition of the inheritance, spending his share on the foundation of the Benedictine monastery of Petershausen, whose church he began in 983 and consecrated in 992, dedicating it to St Gregory and enriching it with relics brought from Rome. At his death, he was buried there, and on the anniversary of his death, the *Gebhardts-Brot* (St Gebhard’s Bread) was customarily distributed. Feast on 27 August in the Diocese of Constance; he is not included in the Martyrology.
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**Gebhard III, Bishop of Constance.** – Son of Duke Berthold I of Zähringen; provost at Xanten, then Benedictine monk at Hirsau, he was consecrated Bishop of Constance on 22 December 1084 by Otto of Ostia, the future Pope Urban II. A staunch defender of ecclesiastical rights during the Investiture Controversy, he was appointed by Pope Urban II as Apostolic Vicar for Germany alongside Bishop Altmann of Passau.
In 1089, he consecrated the new cathedral of Constance; in 1094, he held a great council; in 1095, he participated in the Papal Synod of Piacenza. From 1103 to 1105, he had to yield to the bishop imposed by Henry IV. In 1105, entrusted by Pope Paschal II, he absolved Henry V from excommunication and accompanied him to Saxony, where he intervened in political and ecclesiastical negotiations. In 1106, he traveled as a member of Henry V’s legation to Pope Paschal II.
In the final years of his life, G. withdrew from politics and devoted himself exclusively to his diocese.
Died on 12 November 1110.
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