ANSALDI. — Members of this family included:
1) **CASTO INNOCENZO** — Dominican theologian, exegete, and historian, one of the greatest scholars of his time, born in Piacenza on 7 May 1710, died in Turin in early May 1780.
Having entered the Dominicans in Brescia in 1726, he studied in Milan, Bosco (Alessandria), Bologna, Genoa, and Rome. After ordination to the priesthood in 1734, he taught philosophy, theology, biblical exegesis, and Hebrew throughout his life in the schools of his Order (Naples, Brescia) and especially at the Universities of Naples (1735–38), Ferrara (1750–56), and Turin for over twenty years (from 1757 until his death). Opposed to Scholasticism, he was in conflict with his Order, from which he was reconciled in 1744 through the efforts of Cardinal A. M. Querini and Benedict XIV. He maintained relations with Roman ecclesiastics sympathetic to Jansenism; his extensive correspondence with Monsignor G. G. Bottari from 1754 onward (unpublished: Corsiniana Library, Rome) is of interest for understanding the reformist tendencies of the time.
Anselmo’s literary output was vast and rich in erudition; it aimed to refute contemporary rationalism through sound historical and archaeological criticism.
Among his most notable works on the Old Testament are:
- *Patriarchae Iosephi Aegypti olim Proregis religio* (against J. Basnage, who in *Antiquités hérautiques*, 1713, accused Joseph of ambition and superstition), Naples 1738, Venice 1741 (under the title *De Veteri Aegyptiorum idololatria ac monibus*), Brescia 1747, where he employs contemporary Egyptology;
- *De fretu Indaeorum buccina*, Brescia 1745 (and in vol. XXVII of B. Ugolini’s *Thesaurus Antiquitatum sacrarum*, Venice 1763);
- *De futuro saeculo ab Hebraeis ante captivitatem cognito* (against Jean Le Clerc, who denied that the immortality of the soul was taught in the Old Testament), Milan 1748.
On the New Testament:
- *Herodiani infanticidi vindiciae* (against Giuseppe Scaligero), with the appended critical study *De luco Iohannis aliter atque habet Vulgata a non-nullis Patribus lecto* (vol. 13), Brescia 1746, in which he affirms the necessity of positive theology; followed by (against the Brescian priest Pietro Barzani, who denied the authority of patristic biblical citations) the learned *De authenticis SS. Scripturarum apud SS. Patres lectionibus II. duo*, Verona 1747, Brescia 1749;
- *De baptismate in Spiritu S. et igni commentarius saec. philologico-criticus*, Milan 1752.
On the history of the early Church:
- *De causis inopiae veterum monumentorum pro copia martyrum dignoscenda*, Milan 1740, and *De martyribus sine sanguine*, ibid. 1744; responses to Henry Dodwell, who argued for the scarcity of martyrs and discredited the martyrologies;
- *Multitudo maxima eorum qui prioribus Ecclesiae saeculis christianam religionem professi sunt* (against David Clarkson’s work, London 1688), Turin 1772.
On ethics:
- *De principiorum legis naturalis traditione II. tres* (advocating, for the first time, the thesis of traditionalism), Milan 1742;
- *Vindiciae Maupertuisianae*, Venice 1754, in which, alongside Maupertuis, he argues that Stoicism lacked a coherent moral system, sparking a lengthy controversy with Francesco Maria Zanotti and others;
- *Saggio intorno alle immaginazioni e alle rappresentazioni della felicità somma*, Turin 1775;
- *Riflessioni sopra i mezzi di perfezionare la filosofia morale*, ibid. 1778.
On theology:
- *Della necessità e verità della religione naturale e rivelata*, Venice 1755;
- *Della speranza e della consolazione di rivedere i cari nostri nell’altra vita*, Turin 1772, Bassano 1778;
- *Praelectiones theologicae de re sacramentaria*, Venice 1792 (reprinted in P. M. Gazzaniga’s *Praelect. theol.*, XI–XII, Venice 1797).
Anselmo was also a pioneer in the study of ancient religions (*De diis multarum gentium Romam evocatis*, Brescia 1743, Venice 1753, 1761, Oxford 1765; *De sacro et publico apud ethnies tabularum pictarum cultu*, Venice 1753, augmented edition Turin 1768), particularly pagan mysteries (*De Theurgia deque theurgicis ethicorum mysteriis a divo Paulo memorati*, Milan 1761).
2) **Carlo Agostino** — Brother of the above, born in Piacenza on 23 September 1711, died after 1762, also a Dominican, distinguished as a preacher. He published sermons and panegyrics, as well as Italian verse translations of St. Prosper of Aquitaine’s *De ingratis* (Venice 1753; another translation by F. Anfossi, ibid. 1802) and Prudentius’ *Contra Symmachum* (ibid. 1754).
3) **Pietro Tommaso** — Contemporary of the two aforementioned brothers, provost of the cathedral of San Miniato, noteworthy for his erudite apologetic work *De Divinitate D. N. I. Christi*, Florence 1754.
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