AMAT di SAN FILIPPO, PIETRO. – Writer, born 1 October 1822 in Sardinia, died in Rome on 15 February 1895. He first worked as an employee at the State Archive in Cagliari, then at the Ministry of Finance in Rome.
A writer on the history of geography, he published a life of C. Colombo, the life and travels of Ludovico da Varthema, and studies on the relations between Italy and India, all works noteworthy from a missionary perspective. He also authored Studi bibliografici e biografici sulla storia della Geografia in Italia, published by the R. Società Geografica Italiana, Rome 1875, with a second edition in 1882; the first volume of this work, titled Biografie dei viaggiatori italiani colla bibliografia delle loro opere, was later enriched with an 85-page Appendix containing rich material on the travels and explorations of missionaries.
Lungi Michelini Tocci
AM
father with gentleness in accordance with Deut. 24:16, sparing the children of conspirators.
Following the struggle against Hazael, king of Syria, which his father had lost, the people and army were disheartened. A. reorganized the troops (300,000 armed men from Judah and Benjamin) and marched against the Edomites, who had rebelled after the death of Josaphat (849 BC), defeating them in the Valley of Salt, southeast of the Dead Sea, and then conquering Sela (Petra), their capital. He had hired 100,000 mercenaries from the kingdom of Israel, but, following the warning of a prophet, he sent them away (2 Chron. 25:5-10).
This success emboldened A., who waged war on Joas, king of Israel, who had also admonished him with the parable of the thistle and the cedar (2 Kings 14:9 ff.; 2 Chron. 25:18 ff.). A. was defeated at Bethsames and taken prisoner. Joas of Israel left the defeated king on his throne after plundering Jerusalem and demolishing part of the northern wall. The last years of A.’s reign were inglorious, until a conspiracy took his life at Lachish, where he had taken refuge. He received a royal funeral; he was succeeded by his sixteen-year-old son Azariah (or Uzziah).
The duration of A.’s reign is disputed: the 29 years assigned to him (2 Kings 14:2; 2 Chron. 25:1) are variously reduced by scholars, down to 9 years.
Regarding religion, A. initially zealously upheld pure Yahwism (4 Kings 14:3-6). But after his victory over Edom, he apostatized (2 Chron. 25:14-16), establishing Edomite deities in Jerusalem and ignoring the warnings of a prophet; he was punished with a tragic death (4 Kings 14:1-22; 2 Chron. 25:1-28).
2. – Priest of the sanctuary at Bethel during the reign of Jeroboam II (783-43 BC), king of Israel. CAMOS (v.), whom he forced to return to Judah. The prophet foretold severe divine punishments upon his family and death in a foreign land (Amos 7:10-17).
Angelo Penna
AMATRIS (now AMASRAH). – A city in Paphlagonia, on the Black Sea. Around 300 BC, Sesamos and other nearby settlements were united into a single city, which was named after its supposed founder, A., a niece of Darius III, king of Persia, and successively the wife of Craterus, Dionysius, and Lysimachus.
Of the bishops of A., which was formerly a diocese of Asia Minor, the first mention dates to the 2nd century and the last to 1351. Cf. the lists in M. Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, I, Paris 1740, pp. 561-66.
Pietro Sfair
AMAT, FELIX. – Historian and treatise writer, born in Sabadell, in the province of Barcelona, in 1759, died in Barcelona in 1824. Canon of Tarragona, abbot of S. Ildefonso in Madrid, confessor to Charles IV. His most important work is the Historia ecclesiastica, in 12 volumes (Madrid 1791; 2nd ed. Barcelona 1807). His Observaciones pacificas sobre la potestad ecclesiastica (Barcelona 1817) were placed on the Index. He also wrote on ethics, ascetics, and metaphysics.
AMAT, FELIX TORRES: V. TORRES Y AMAT, FÉLIX.
AMAT di SAN FILIPPO, PIETRO. – Writer, born 1 October 1822 in Sardinia, died in Rome on 15 February 1895. He first worked as an employee at the State Archive in Cagliari, then at the Ministry of Finance in Rome.
A writer on the history of geography, he published a life of C. Colombo, the life and travels of Ludovico da Varthema, and studies on the relations between Italy and India, all works noteworthy from a missionary perspective. He also authored Studi bibliografici e biografici sulla storia della Geografia in Italia, published by the R. Società Geografica Italiana, Rome 1875, with a second edition in 1882; the first volume of this work, titled Biografie dei viaggiatori italiani colla bibliografia delle loro opere, was later enriched with an 85-page Appendix containing rich material on the travels and explorations of missionaries.
Lungi Michelini Tocci