CORDARA, GIULIO CESARE. – Jesuit, born at Alessandria di Piemonte on 16 December 1704, died there on 6 March 1785. Having devoted himself to literary studies, after a period of teaching in various colleges, he was entrusted with continuing the history, in Latin, of the Society of Jesus, already begun and carried through several volumes by Fathers F. Sacchini and J. Jouvaney; then, overtaken by the suppression of the Order (1773), he returned to his homeland, where he continued his writing until the end of his life.
His production in Italian and in an exquisite Caesarean Latin is very extensive: history, biography, poetry, satires, dramas; the satires, above all, caused a great stir throughout the eighteenth century. But the two most important works are: Historiae Societatis Iesu pars VI (2 vols., encompassing the entire generalate of Father Muzio Vitelleschi [1615–33]; of these, vol. I was published in Rome in 1750; vol. II, left unfinished, was completed and published by Father P. Ragazzini [there, 1859]) and De suis ac suorum rebus, aliisque suorum temporum usque ad occasum Societatis Iesu commentarii, published posthumously, first in extracts by various authors, then in full by G. Albertotti and A. Faggiotto (Turin 1933). From this work C. himself had extracted the passages and chapters concerning the suppression of the Jesuits and, suitably connected, had fashioned them into a separate work of sorts: De suppressione Societatis Iesu commentarii, edited by G. Albertotti (Padua 1923). The Historia displays greater elegance than the works of his predecessors, but a lesser critical sense; in the Commentarii, alongside much valuable information about himself, his fellow religious, and the times, the author appears inconsistent and incoherent, and although he shows an understanding spirit toward the Order’s painful episodes, he does not always pass equitable judgments on persons and events; indeed, his eccentric spirit drives him toward paradox and not infrequently toward open contradiction. His letters are also noteworthy for their wealth of information and judgments concerning the works and figures of his time, some of which were published by G. Albertotti.