BONAZZI, BENEDETTO

BONAZZI, BENEDETTO. – A Cassinese Benedictine of the Abbey of Cava dei Tirreni, philologist and writer, born in Naples on 11 Oct. 1840 into the noble family of the barons of S. Nicandro, died, archbishop of Benevento, on 23 Apr. 1915. He was among the first to introduce into 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 Greek-Italian Dictionary, which won him a European reputation. He renounced a university chair in Italian literature so as not to leave the monastery of Cava. There he was elected abbot on 2 Mar. 1894; on 9 June 1902 he was appointed archbishop of Benevento. Benedict XV intended to create him a cardinal, so much so that the Pope himself wished it to be noted on the epitaph that B. had died before he could be honoured with the purple, to which he had been most devoted.