CRISPOLTI, FILIPPO. — Born in Rieti on 25 April 1857, died in Rome on 3 March 1942. Journalist, man of letters, senator of the Kingdom. Graduated in Rome (1878), he practiced law and journalism there until (1883) he was called to Turin as editor of the *Corriere nazionale*. He returned to Rome (1886) as editor of *L’Osservatore Romano*; thus he was able to establish himself as a writer, lecturer, skilled polemicist, and militant of Catholic Action.
Councillor of the Rome city council (1893–99), director of Bologna’s *Avvenire d’Italia* (1896–1902), he made it one of the leading Catholic dailies. A contributor to many periodicals, he enjoyed wide personal and literary connections with figures from every school of thought. His journalistic output culminated in his work (1910–29) Grosoli (v.) in the five Catholic newspapers of the Roman publishing house. A city councillor in Turin (1906–08), where he had taken up residence, he participated in national Catholic congresses and in the founding of the *Partito Popolare*, which elected him deputy in 1919: his constant aim, expressed with nobility of thought and speech, was to promote reconciliation between Church and State, shunning extremists on both right and left. He was encouraged in this direction by the popes, especially Benedict XV and Cardinal P. Gasparri. In 1922 he was appointed senator.
Of refined literary temperament, he essayed the novel (*Un duello* [1900]) and poetry (*Poesie* [1900]). He excelled, however, in criticism, religious and social polemics (*Il laicato cattolico* [1890]; *Questioni vitali* [1908]; *Rinnovamento dell’educazione* [1919]) and above all in evoking men and times of his century; two sacred biographies (*Don Bosco* [1916]; and *S. Luigi Gonzaga* [1923]); several volumes of personal recollections, highly effective biographical and autobiographical pages (*I miei quattro Papi* [1930]; *Corone e porpore* [1937]; *Politici, guerrieri, poeti* [1941]); a volume of commemorations (*Grandi anime* [1925]). He devoted particular energy to the anti-duelling movement, serving as president of the Italian section of the International League Against Duelling (1900–14); and to the renewal of religious art, as president of the Society of Friends of Christian Art (1912–42). To his ideal master, Manzoni, he devoted, besides countless articles, *Minuzie manzoniane* (1919) and *Indagini sopra il Manzoni* (1940). Of A. Fogazzaro, to whom he was bound by devoted and loyal friendship, he edited *Le più belle pagine* in the Treves series (1925).