MONTERISI, NICOLA. - Archbishop, born at Barletta on 21 May 1867, died at Salerno on 30 March 1944. Graduated in theology, law, and letters, he taught dogmatic theology at the Seminary of Bari (1897) and, the following year, at the diocesan seminary, which he left in 1908 upon his appointment as theological canon and parish priest of S. Sepolcro in Barletta.
A combative spirit, together with the members of the Leone XIII circle, whom he had formed, he engaged in an open struggle against anticlericalism in the fortnightly paper Il buon senso, which he directed until his appointment as bishop of Monopoli (1913). In 1920 he became archbishop of Chieti, and in 1929 archbishop of Salerno.
He devoted his long episcopate to an increasing fervour of works that renewed the face of the three dioceses successively entrusted to him. A man of adamantine character, sustained by an unshakable faith, he faced grave situations in troubled hours of Italian history, courageously defending the rights of the Church with apostolic courage, especially during the last war. He left many pastoral writings, largely collected by mons. A. Balducci: Trent'anni di episcopato. Moniti e istruzioni (Isola del Liri 1950).