MUZZARELLI, ALFONSO. — Jesuit, theologian, and writer, born in Ferrara on 22 August 1749, died in Paris on 25 May 1813.
He entered the Society of Jesus in 1768 and, following the suppression of the Order in 1773, completed his ecclesiastical studies in Reggio Emilia, where he was ordained a priest. Soon after, he obtained a canonry in Ferrara and then became director of the Collegio dei Nobili in Parma. Called to Rome by Pius VII, he served as theologian of the Sacred Penitentiary and censor of the Accademia Cattolica. When Pius VII was exiled from Rome in 1809, Muzzarelli shared his fate, being first imprisoned in Civitavecchia and then deported to Paris, where he spent the remainder of his life in the convent of the Dames de St Michel.
He authored numerous works on theology, philosophy, and ascetics; the principal one being *Il buon uso della logica in materia di religione* (6 vols., Foligno 1787–89; expanded ed. in 10 vols., Rome 1807; 2 vols., Florence 1821–23, and various translations), in which he addressed the most pressing theological questions of his day: abuses within the Church, temporal power.