GHILARDI, GIOVANNI TOMMASO. - Bishop of Mondovì, b. at Casalgrasso in 1800, d. at Mondovì on 6 June 1873. He took the habit of the Dominicans and within the Order was also provincial. Attached to the Savoy dynasty, he enjoyed the esteem and admiration of Charles Albert, who urged his appointment as bishop of Mondovì, which took place on 23 May 1842, where he then remained always wholly devoted to works of a religious, charitable and educational character.
He was one of the most combative bishops and one of the most courageous publicists of his age, particularly in the face of the secularist policy of the new Kingdom of Italy and the struggle against temporal power, in favor of which he published notable pamphlets particularly on the occasion of the Garibaldian campaign of 1867 and the centenary of St. Peter. The year 1870 found him among the most determined supporters of pontifical infallibility with the works: De plenitudine potestatis Romani Pontificis in Ecclesia Dei (Turin 1870); Honorius papa ab accusationibus veterum et novorum infallibilitatis Summi Pontificis adversariorum vindicatus (ibid. 1870); Vantaggi religiosi e sociali della dommatica definizione dell'infallibilità pontificia (ibid. 1870).
He also raised his protest with a: Reclamo... contro il progetto di legge sull'invasione di Roma (Mondovì 1870). Subsequently he published a Progetto di una sacra lega cattolico-mondiale... per la conservazione ed incremento della fede (Mondovì 1871); two pamphlets: Reclami religioso-politici contro le leggi abolitive della esenzione dei chierici dalla leva militare (ibid. 1871); Pio IX giustificato e i diritti di S. Chiesa difesi in faccia alla rivoluzione italiana (ibid. 1873). He therefore repeatedly merited the praise of the Pontiff; shortly before his death a sentence of imprisonment was imposed on him by the government authority.
Bibliography
Niccolò del Re