CARLETTI, TERENZIO. – Prelate and magistrate, born in Pesaro on 24 Sept. 1807, died in Rome on 19 Dec. 1896. He held the offices of ponens of the Sacred Congregation of the Good Government, apostolic delegate in Orvieto, Camerino and Rieti, and ponens at the Tribunal of the Sacred Consulta.
The not inconsiderable role he played in complex trials for lese-majesty against innovators, often marked by heinous crimes of bloodshed committed out of partisan spirit, cast an unfavourable light on C.’s reputation among contemporary and later liberal historians. Yet the many accusations and various recriminations fall away in the light of modern research, when due account is taken of the customs, mores, and state of mind of the milieu, as well as notable examples from every age and place. Even the extreme penalty inflicted on the unfortunate Giuseppe Monti and Gaetano Tognetti appeared, to the unsuspecting Ruggero Bonghi, fully justified by the very gravity of the juridical case concerning the useless and barbarous attack they committed, which, among other things, cost the lives of several defenceless soldiers and some innocent civilians.