CESTARI, GIUSEPPE

CESTARI, GIUSEPPE. - Priest, born in 1751 in Naples where he lived with the reputation of a Jansenist, together with

his brother Gennaro, belonging to that group of philosophers and regalists solely concerned with asserting the sovereign's rights over the appointment of prelates, over churches and their property, over the discipline of priestly ordination, of taking the veil, and over marriage.

He collaborated with Francesco Mario Pagano and Giuseppe Logoteta on the drafting of the Costituzione della Repubblica napoletana del 1798. His principal work, Dimostrazione de i titoli della S. Sede sulle Sicilie (Naples 1789), is a reply to the work of Card. Stefano Borgia, Breve istoria del dominio temporale della sede apostolica nelle due Sicilie (Rome 1788). Another of his works is the Esame della pretesa donazione fatta da s. Arrigo II imperatore alla S. Sede (Naples 1785), which aroused bitter controversy. He commented on the Istoria del Giannone and continued the Annali del Regno di Napoli by F. A. Grimaldi. He was prefect of the Archives of the Royal Mint and of the Royal Chamber of the Sommaria.

Later, together with the other Neapolitan Jansenists and regalists, he took part in the republic of 1799 and was killed in combat upon the entry of the masses led by Card. Ruffo for the restoration of the monarchy.