DEVOTTI, GIOVANNI. — Canonist, born in Rome on 11 July 1774 and died there on 18 September 1820. He held various positions in the curia, was bishop of Anagni and then, from 1804, titular archbishop of Carthage; he accompanied Pius VII to Paris when the latter went there for Napoleon’s coronation.
He taught for twenty-six years at the Sapienza and wrote several works, the best known of which is *Institutionum canonicum libri IV* (Rome 1785, latest ed. Bologna 1838), widely used in the last century and particularly praised for its clarity and historical information. In *Iuris canonici publici et privati libri V* (Rome 1803–84; Augusta 1867), he commented on the first three books of the Decretals; he also wrote *De notissimis in iure legibus libri II* (6th ed., Rome 1830).