BONISIGNORI, Benedetto. — Benedictine abbot and biblical exegete, born c. 1510 and died in Florence in 1567. Even in his secular life he distinguished himself for his keen intellect and his knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. Within the Order he held various important positions in the Cassinese Congregation of S. Giustina, “laudandus ob integritatem, amandus ob humanitatem, imitandus ob rectam simplicemque naturam” (R. Castrucci, Vita).
Among his works, noteworthy are 39 homilies on the three canticles of the New Testament, 31 homilies or treatises on the Gospels and Psalms, on many selected passages from Isaiah and St. Paul. He followed the patristic method, especially assimilating the spirit of St. John Chrysostom and the sweetness of St. Bernard. Raffaele Castrucci, one of his monks, published his homilies in Florence in 1568 in a large volume (pp. 624): *Orationes variae ad faires in Caputulo*.