FABRIANI, SEVERINO. — Priest from Modena, born in Spilamberto on 7 January 1792, died on 27 August 1849.
He entered the Seminary of Modena in 1806. Ordained a priest on 17 December 1814, he was appointed professor at the Seminary and in 1821 became a member of the Accademia di scienze, lettere ed arti, in whose Atti he published numerous studies. In 1824 he assumed the direction of a private school, called that of the “Daughters of Jesus,” which he later renamed the “Daughters of Providence,” for the education of deaf-mute girls. Devoting himself entirely to this institution, he attracted the attention of men of letters through his grammatical studies, in which he sought to highlight the logical value of terminology; but his ingenious innovations, owing to practical difficulties, remained without sequel.
In addition to many articles of a religious, scientific, and philological character, and Regole for the Seminary and for the Institute of the Daughters of Providence, he published: Sul beneficio dalla religione cristiana recato agli uomini nell'istruzione de' sordomuti (Modena 1826); La religione cristiana dimostrata per la natura de' suoi misteri (there 1828); Sull'immortale beneficio dagli ecclesiastici recato alla letteratura conservandola nel medioevo (there 1830); Lettere logiche al prof. Marc'Antonio Parenti sopra la grammatica dei sordomuti (there 1838–57); Primi elementi di grammatica italiana per le fonciulle sordomute educate dalle Figlie della Provvidenza in Modena secondo i principi delle lettere logiche (there 1841 and 1873).
A. Sassi, Nel I centenario della fondazione delle Figlie della Provvidenza per le sardomute in Modena, there 1929; B. Donati, Antonio Rossini collaboratore delle «Memorie» di Modena, there 1941, p. 10 to 1922. Felice da Maroto