Giuseppe D’ANNIBALE. — Cardinal, among the greatest moralists of the last century, b. at Borbona (L’Aquila) on 22 Sept. 1815, d. there on 17 July 1892. He completed his studies at the seminary of Rieti, and, after being ordained priest in 1839, was sent as assistant parish priest to his native town, where, apart from a brief interval teaching dogmatic theology at the seminary, he remained until 1851, when he returned to the seminary as professor of moral theology. Vicar capitular (1866–1872), then vicar general (1872–81), he was elected titular bishop of Caristo on 1 Aug. 1882, and left Rieti to take up in Rome the office of canonist of the Sacred Penitentiary. Consultor (25 Apr. 1883) and then assessor (14 Mar. 1884) of the Holy Office and canon of St Peter’s, he was created cardinal in 1889 and shortly afterwards (May 1889) appointed prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences.
A subtle and profound intellect, he published at Rieti his first work *In const. «Apostolicae Sedis» commentarii* (1873), which was a revelation for its erudition and exactness of doctrine, as well as for the conciseness of its expression, a characteristic gift of D’An. “A work of small size and of very great weight” (*Civ. Catt.*, 8th ser., 1873, III, p. 384) it had other editions (1874, 1880) during the author’s lifetime and several posthumous ones. Also printed were his notable conferences to the clergy of Rieti for the years 1878, 1879, 1880. But his “principal” work is the *Summula theologiae moralis*, on which he laboured for 20 years, copying the manuscript 12 times without being satisfied, before publishing it: I (Rieti 1874), II (ibid. 1875), III (ibid. 1876).
The 3rd ed. was dedicated to Leo XIII in his jubilee year, and to the last (Rome 1908) a *Suplementum* (ibid. 1909) was also added by D. Mannaioli, bishop of Montefiascone and formerly professor of moral theology at the Roman seminary. Unfortunately, to this day no one has succeeded in adapting the book to the new Code of Canon Law and to the new civil law codes.
The importance of D’An.’s work lies above all in his having brought to the study of moral theology and canon law the powerful civil-law training which he had begun under the guidance of a true master, D. Carlo Latini of Rieti, and had perfected in the debate over paternal estates, maturing it then over 30 years of teaching. Four learned men of Ballerini found in D’An.’s work, reviewing it on the occasion of its 1st ed. in *La Civiltà Cattolica*: order (favoured by his synthetic method, which goes from the general to the particular, from principles to conclusions), precision, brevity, clarity. In the Rotal sentences issued from 1909 to the present there is perhaps no theologian or canonist more cited, and apart from certain positions now abandoned (his *systema possessionis*, the liceity of embryotomy, etc.), he is still one of the most studied and followed masters in the field of moral theology.