GIUSEPPE, bishop of METONE. – A celebrated polemicist of the 15th century, born in Crete (cf. his letter in J. Hardt, Catal. cod. mss. Bibl. reg. di Baviera, II, Munich 1806, p. 256); he was appointed “head of the Churches” by Cardinal Bessarion when the latter became patriarch of Constantinople (April 1463), and “vice-protopope” of the island (1470). Later he was elected bishop of Metone in Greece. He made a journey to Rome (1498) and Venice (1499), where he preached and collected alms. As soon as he learned of the Turks’ attack on Metone, he returned to the city and encouraged everyone to resist. He was consequently killed by the enemy in 1500. G. was a staunch defender of the Union of Florence, a skilled writer, and a virtuous man.
G.’s fame rests on his polemical works: 1) Defensio Synodi Graecae, formerly attributed to Gennadius: PG 159, 1109–1394; 2) Responsio ad libellum Marci Ephesi: PG 159, 1023–94; 3) Disceptatio de differentiis inter Graecos et Latinas: PG 159, 957–1022. He was also the author of other minor works: a Canon Synodi VIII Florentiae habitae and a Synaxorion: PG 159, 1093–1106. In addition, he transcribed the entire manuscript Conv. sopp. 3 of the Laurenziana in Florence (signed) and Parisinus Gr. 423 (unsigned). There are unpublished works by G., including sermons, a letter, a treatise In Cretenes schismaticos (cf. A. Olivieri and N. Festa, Indice di codd. gr. Bolognesi, in Stud. ital. di filol. class., 3 [1895], p. 471; V. Puntoni, Indici codd. gr. Bonon. ab A. Olivieri compos., supp., ibid., 4 [1876], p. 370), and a hymn to the Holy Spirit (Conv. sopp. 3, f. 390?).
GIUSEPPE Bonaparte, king of NAPLES, later king of SPAIN. – Born on 7 January 1768 at Corte in Corsica, died on 28 July 1844 in Florence. Napoleon’s elder brother, he studied law at the College of Autun. During the French Revolution he took part in the siege of Toulon. Elected in 1796 as a deputy to the Council of Five Hundred, in 1797 he was sent as ambassador to Rome, where he directed a policy of agitation against the papal government, which led to the killing of General Duphot by the Roman populace, exasperated by the provocations. Having returned to France as plenipotentiary minister, after 18 Brumaire he contributed to the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace and Commerce with the United States (30 September 1800), and of the Treaties of Lunéville (9 February 1801) and Amiens (24 March 1802).
He was likewise entrusted with the negotiations that led to the signing of the Concordat of 1801. A divisional general in 1806, he became king of Naples that same year, and king of Spain in 1808. In Naples he pursued a policy not very favorable toward the Church. He limited the number of priests (five per thousand inhabitants); expelled the Jesuits (3 July 1806) and suppressed the Benedictine monasteries (13 February 1807); and considered reducing the number of dioceses in the Kingdom. After his brother’s fall, he left France for the United States; from 1832 he resided in England, and later, with the consent of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in Florence.