BALLERINI, GIUSEPPE. - Italian bishop and apologist, b. at Gualdrasco (Pavia) on 15 Sept. 1857, d. at Pavia on 12 June 1933. Having begun ecclesiastical studies, he first attended the seminary of his diocese and then the Gregorian University in Rome. Ordained priest on 23 Sept. 1882, he returned to his homeland to teach theology in the seminary of his diocese. In 1910 he was named diocesan vicar and on 24 July 1924 bishop of Pavia.
B.’s fame rests on the publication of numerous scholarly or popular scientific works, among which: *Le pretese evoluzioni del dogma, della morale e della Chiesa cattolica* (Monza 1898); *L’originale distinzione dei gradi gerarchici della Chiesa cattolica* (ibid. 1901); *Crisi religiosa o crisi intellettuale?* (Pavia 1907); *L’esistenza di Dio di fronte alla scienza e al pensiero moderno* (3rd ed., Florence 1918); *Gesù Cristo e i suoi moderni critici* (2nd ed., Pavia 1921); *Breve apologia dei giovani studenti contro gl’increduli dei nostri giorni*; I. *Dio-l’anima-l’uomo*; II. *La religione*; III. *Cristianesimo*; IV. *La Chiesa* (6th ed., ibid. 1920–21).