QUANDEL, GIUSEPPE. — Abbot of Montecassino, born in Naples on 22 August 1833, died at Montecassino on 27 February 1897. Son of General Giovan Battista, he entered the Nunziatella Military College; by 1860 he had already attained the rank of major.
After Garibaldi’s landing, he fought in Sicily, then joined the sovereign at Gaeta and assisted in the defense of the last stronghold of Bourbon rule. When the fortress fell, he renounced military life. He graduated in mathematics and in 1862 published a Diario de' lavori del Genio napoletano nella difesa di Gaeta, but, disillusioned with the world, he withdrew on 10 March 1864 to the abbey of Montecassino and took his vows on 26 December 1865. After teaching mathematics in the monastery school, he held various administrative posts until he was elected abbot on 28 June 1896. His name is associated with two works begun by his predecessor, Abbot D'Argement: the restoration of the Torretta di S. Benedetto and the establishment of the diocesan seminary of S. Giuseppe. Active and practical, he nevertheless did not neglect literary and historical studies: in 1887 and 1891 he published a Codex diplomatica Coictanus, which constitutes the first two volumes of the Tabularium Casinense.