BERNARDI, GAETANO

BERNARDI, Gaetano. – Benedictine monk of the Cassinese Abbey of Montecassino, man of letters and educator, born at Caramanico (Chieti) on 1 Nov. 1827, died at Montecassino on 7 Feb. 1895. He taught literature at Sulmona and Naples; in 1868 he retired to Montecassino, and in 1870 made his religious profession. In 1887 Leo XIII chose him as the first Abbot of St Anselm in Rome, summoned to govern the newly reconstituted Benedictine college. In that office he rendered valuable assistance to Cardinal Dusmet and, together with him, worked to implement the Pope’s ideas aimed at organizing the various Benedictine Congregations into a fraternal confederation. Once this was formed and its primacy elected, Bernardi returned to Montecassino. In 1894 he was made President of the Cassinese Congregation, but he could hold the office for only a short time, since he died the following year. Among his published works, noteworthy is the *Avviamento all’arte del dire*, which went through several editions, including recent ones, after its first appearance in 1869.