OJETTI, BENEDETTO. - Canonist, b. in Rome on 5 April 1862, d. there on 30 September 1932. Having entered the Society of Jesus in 1878 and been assigned to the juridical sciences, he was appointed in 1896 professor of canon law at the Gregorian University; in 1898 he was transferred to the chair of dogmatics; in 1913 he was recalled to the Faculty of Law, which he held almost until his death.
His learned teaching, which won him the admiration of the juridical world, took concrete form in writings of value: besides numerous articles in various periodicals, he wrote: In jus antepianum et pianum ex decreto «Ne Temere», de forma celebrationis sponsalium et matrimonii commentarii (Rome 1908); Synopsis rerum moralium et iuris pontificii (ibid. 1899), a work of such immediate popularity as to require three editions in a short time (the 3rd in 4 vols., ibid. 1909-14) and of ever-current scientific value: De Romana Curia. Commentarius in Const. apost. «Sapienti consilio» (ibid. 1910); Commentarium in CIC (4 vols., ibid. 1927-31), a work left unfinished at can. 214 owing to the author's death.
Fr. O. was furthermore a consultor of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, of the Council, of Propaganda, of the Rites, of extraordinary ecclesiastical affairs and of the Commission for the authentic interpretation of canon law, in whose preparation he worked among the first with Card. P. Gasparri.
Bibliography
Celestino Testore