OJETTI, BENEDETTO. – Canonist, b. in Rome on 5 Apr. 1862, d. there on 30 Sept. 1932. Having entered the Society of Jesus in 1878 and devoted himself to legal studies, he was appointed in 1896 professor of canon law at the Gregorian University; in 1898 he was transferred to the chair of dogmatic theology; in 1913 he was recalled to the Faculty of Law, which he held until nearly the time of his death.
His learned teaching, which earned him the admiration of the juridical world, found expression in writings of value: besides numerous articles in various periodicals, he wrote: *In jus ante-pianum et pianum ex decreto «Ne Temere», de forma celebrationis sponsalium et matrimonii commentarii* (Rome 1958); *Synopsis rerum moralium et iuris pontificii* (ibid. 1899), a work of such immediate dissemination that it required three editions in a short time (the 3rd in 4 vols., ibid. 1909–14) and has retained its scientific value to this day; *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 also consultor to the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, of the Council, of Propaganda, of Rites, of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, and of the Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of Canon Law, to whose preparation he worked among the first with Card. P. Gasparri.