AUDISIO, Guglielmo Andrea. – Priest, educator, scholar, and teacher of ecclesiastical disciplines, born in Bra in 1802, died in Rome on 28 September 1882. After completing his early studies at the local seminary and furthering them in Turin with degrees in philosophy and theology, he taught sacred eloquence for a time at the same seminary in Bra, until Charles Albert appointed him professor and president of the Royal Ecclesiastical Academy of Superga (1839). Though possessed of a broad and multifaceted culture, though not always fully assimilated or critically assessed, he was captivated by the new currents of the century and became a propagandist and champion of the Neoguelf ideal, reacting against the Enlightenment and jurisdictionalist tendencies of many supporters of the Risorgimento; that is, he sought to reconcile the movement for political and cultural rebirth in the peninsula with Catholic and national traditions and with the religious and temporal rights of the papacy. Hence, amid heated passions, misunderstanding, and criticism from both progressive and conservative quarters, he found himself embroiled in bitter struggles and painful conflicts. Thus, his prominent role in the founding and editing of the combative Catholic newspaper *L’Armonia* made him so objectionable first to royal censorship and then to the instruments of the Piedmontese government that in 1853 it led to the dissolution of the Academy of Superga and forced him to take refuge in Rome. Welcomed by Pius IX, he soon became a professor of natural and international law at the Sapienza and a canon of St Peter’s, perhaps also a consultor of the Holy Congregation of the Index. Even here, however, by associating with cliques of liberal-leaning priests, not least Liverani, and by continuing to advocate politically reformist ideas, often bold and sometimes erroneous, he gradually fell into disfavour and found himself in difficulty, especially when his conduct during the First Vatican Council gave rise to accusations of Gallicanism and when one of his writings was placed on the Index by decree, to which Audisio, to his credit, submitted. Thus even his indisputable merits were obscured.
Among his works we may recall: *Lezioni di sacra eloquenza* (3 vols., Turin 1839–58; final ed. in 1 vol., ibid. 1882); *Del governo rappresentativo nel Piemonte e primi fatti di Pio IX* (ibid. 1848); *Introduzione agli studi ecclesiastici conforme ai bisogni religiosi e civili...* (1 vol., Prato 1851), often reprinted and even pirated; *Juris naturae et gentium privati et publici fundamenta* (Rome 1852); *Educazione morale e fisica del clero* (1 vol., Naples 1853), in which pedagogical ideas are presented appropriately and effectively; *Quistioni politiche* (ibid. 1854); *Gli ultimi giorni dell’Accademia di Superga e l’ultimo preside...* (Turin 1854); *Diritto pubblico della Chiesa e delle Nazioni cristiane* (3 vols., Rome 1863), criticized by Parrocchi, Nardi, and others; *Idea storica e razionale della diplomazia ecclesiastica* (ibid. 1863); *Sistema politico e religioso di Federico II e di Pietro della Vigna* (ibid. 1866); *Storia religiosa e civile dei Papi* (5 vols., ibid. 1865–68), extending to the entire pontificate of Gregory XVI; *Della società politica e religiosa rispetto al sec. XIX* (Florence 1876), condemned on 18 April 1877. In addition to a *Life of Pius IX* and an essay on *La Repubblica Romana del 1849 e suo processo* (1st ed. Turin, 7th ed. Naples), and besides the didactic moral and social tale *Il buon curato* (Rome 1858), he also wrote numerous historical and cultural articles, such as: *Il pontificato di Clemente XIII* (*Rivista contemporanea*, 1 [1853–54]); *Il pontificato di Pio IX* (*Riv. Universale*, 24–26 [1877]); *L’enciclica del 4 agosto (1879, di Leone XIII)* (*La Rass. Nazionale*, 1 [1879]); *I primi anni del pontificato di Pio IX* (*ibid.*, 2–3 [1880]; 8–9 [1882]).