MEZZOFANTI, GIUSEPPE. — Cardinal and distinguished polyglot, born in Bologna on 19 Sept. 1774, died in Rome on 15 March 1849. Ordained priest in 1797, he taught Arabic at the University of Bologna until he was deprived of his chair for refusing to swear loyalty to the Cispadane Republic. He regained it in 1803 and held it until 1808, when it was suppressed; however, it was restored by Pius VII in 1814, and he occupied it again until 1831, when he was called to Rome. There he became a member of the Philological College of the Roman University and, in 1833, prefect of the Vatican Library, succeeding Angelo Mai. Gregory XVI elevated him to the purple on 12 Feb. 1838.
As cardinal he held various important offices, including those of prefect of the Congregations of Studies and of the Review of Books of the Eastern Church. His name is also associated with an exceptional gift for languages. “It is reckoned that he could speak fluently about forty languages; to these must be added another thirty that he had studied carefully but almost never spoken... and many dialects. Altogether, the approximate total comes to one hundred and fifteen” (G. Ricciotti, art. cit. in bibl., p. 460). During his lifetime Cardinal M. published nothing, chiefly because he was so absorbed by his many duties. Some of his manuscripts were later published by E. Teza (*Saggi inediti di lingue americane*, Pisa 1868) and by C. Tagliavini (*La lingua degli Indi Luisenos*, Bologna 1926).