Gallerani, Alessandro

GALLERANI, ALESSANDRO. - Jesuit, orator and writer, b. at Cento (Ferrara) on 9 April 1833, d. at Rome on 1 December 1905. After some years of teaching literature at Sinigallia and at Tivoli, he devoted himself to preaching, and from 1864 to 1892 he passed over the pulpits of the principal cities of Italy, always received and followed with the liveliest sympathy. He was also rector of Florence (1877-81) and Bologna (1882-92), until he was chosen as director and rector of La civiltà cattolica.

Of his numerous writings, his spiritual and formative works still remain alive, for their literary propriety joined to expertise in the subject and ascetical unction: Gesù buono (14th ed., Modena 1905); Gesù santo (7th ed., ibid. 1904); Gesù grande (8th ed., ibid. 1900); Il contravveleno religioso. Lettere ad uno studente (4th ed., ibid. 1913); Diomára, ossia la donna religiosa (2nd ed., ibid. 1903); La nostra patria. Conversazioni sul Paradiso (ibid. 1905). His principal sermons are collected in: I nostri eroi (ibid. 1902) and La buona madre (ibid. 1905). Also of devout reading: Il sermone di N. S. G. C. dopo l'Ultima Cena (Naples 1891); I proverbi di Salomone (ibid. 1892); I due principali sermoni di N. S. G. C. (ibid. 1892); I sermoni minori di N. S. G. C. (ibid. 1893).

Celestino Testore