BUCCERONI, GENNARO. - Theologian, born in Naples on 22 April 1841, entered the Society of Jesus on 7 September 1856, died in Rome on 18 February 1918. Forced by the political upheavals of 1860 to leave Italy with his confreres, he pursued studies in philosophy and theology in Belgium. After spending several years teaching these disciplines to students of the Society, in 1884 he was called to Rome to teach Moral Theology at the Gregorian University. He held the chair for 33 uninterrupted years (1885-1918), during which he never lost that sacred enthusiasm for teaching and an extraordinary communicative power that ensured his success. He served as a consultant to various ecclesiastical dicasteries and a member of the commission for the new Code of Canon Law. The Norms of 1901, which until the Code remained a general outline for the Constitutions of new religious institutes, were largely drafted by him.
Among his numerous writings, we recall: *Commentarius in constitutionem Benedicti XIV*; *Sacramentum Paenitentiae* (Louvain 1884, 2nd ed., Rome 1888); *Commentarius de sacramento cum salute* (Paris 1884); *Commentarius de Beata Virgine Maria* (ibid. 1895); *Commentarii de actibus humanis* (Rome 1906); *De natura theologiae moralis* (ibid. 1910). Yet his principal and most meritorious work remains: *Institutiones theologiae moralis*, which went through six editions (2 vols., ibid. 1892; 6th ed., 4 vols., ibid. 1915) and where sound doctrine is always supported by documents. Of an ascetical disposition: *Commentarii de SS. Corde Jesu* (3rd ed., ibid. 1890); *Esercizi spirituali* (ibid. 1901, 4th ed., ibid. 1931); *La Beata Vergine Maria* (ibid. 1904).