FONTANA, FULVIO. - Jesuit, sacred orator, b. at Modigliana (Florence) in 1648, d. at Fermo in 1723. For a decade he was, together with Pinamonti, Segneri’s companion in the sacred missions; and when the latter was summoned to Rome as apostolic preacher, F. continued his missionary work for twenty-four years in Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, acquiring wide renown as an orator.
In Germany he introduced the missionary method, and his sermons were translated into German. He was greatly esteemed by Clemente XI, princes, and sovereigns. In the Quaresimale (Venice, 1711) he treats moral and practical subjects with great zeal and rigorous logic, without empty ornamentation, employing apt images and observations that reveal the missionary catechist.