GRANELLI, GIOVANNI. - Jesuit, man of letters, and orator, born in Genoa on 15 April 1703, died in Modena on 3 March 1770. Not yet a priest, he taught belles-lettres with extraordinary success at the College of Padua; then he moved to Bologna, to the College of S. Luigi, to study theology, while at the same time assisting the boarders, for whom he composed the tragedies *Sedecia*, *Manasse*, and *Dione*, performed in the College theatre from 1731 to 1733 and repeated in Parma in 1736. Granelli proved himself a master of character portrayal, in the refined crafting of verse and the elegance of style. From 1737 he devoted himself to preaching.
He restored, in particular, the genre of “sacred lessons,” on scriptural subjects; in 1761 he was called to Vienna as court preacher by Maria Theresa, who wished to revive Italian preaching there after it had been interrupted. He served as rector of the College of Modena, librarian, and theologian to Duke Francesco III.
Besides the three tragedies mentioned, he composed a fourth, *Seila* (1761), but it is weak and stilted; more celebrated are his oratorical works: *Lezioni morali, istoriche, critiche e cronologiche*, which treat the history of the Old Testament up to the Babylonian captivity (16 vols., Parma-Modena 1765–69); *Prediche quaresimali e panegirici* (2 vols., Modena 1771), of which many editions soon appeared. His *Poesie scelte* were published posthumously (ibid. 1772).