BONAZZI, BENEDETTO

BONAZZI, BENEDETTO. - Cassinese Benedictine of the abbey of Cava dei Tirreni, philologist and writer, born in Napoli on 11 Oct. 1840 into the noble family of the barons of S. Nicandro; died, as archbishop of Benevento, on 23 Apr. 1915. He was among the first to disseminate in classical teaching, through his many writings, the new historical-philological method of the German Hellenists. His principal work in the field of philology was the Dizionario greco-italiano, which won him a European reputation. He renounced the university chair of Latin literature in order not to leave the monastery of Cava. There he was elected abbot on 2 March 1894; on 9 June 1902 he was appointed archbishop of Benevento. Benedetto XV intended to create him cardinal, and the Pope himself wished it to be noted in the funerary inscription that B. had died before «a Benedicto XV, cui acceptissimus fuerat, purpura honestaretur».