REGGIANINI, LUIGI

REGGIANINI, LUIGI. - Bishop, b. in Modena in July 1775, d. there in Jan. 1848.

Scarcely ordained a priest, he promoted a Congregation

(phot. Enc. Catt.)
REGESTO - Title given in the 18th century to the Liber geminiographus sive cleronomialis ecclesiae Parfenis, compiled by Gregorio da Catino. The codex dates from the 11th-12th century - Vatican Library, cod. Vat. lat. 8487, f. 1r.

of young ecclesiastics to impart catechism teaching in schools and later a Pious Union to assist religious of both clergy during the troubles of the French invasion and the Napoleonic government.

Once the need for such assistance had passed, he directed the Union's activity toward preaching Ignatian exercises in favor of the destitute. In 1818 he founded the Institute of the Daughters of Jesus for the education of poor young girls, with special regard for the deaf-mute, and directed it for over a decade. Another initiative of R. was the publication of a periodical titled Memorie di morale, di religione e di letteratura, through which he proposed to combat liberal and anti-Christian thought, in defense of the rights of the Church and papal authority. Spiritual director, then rector of the Modena Seminary and confessor to the Este princes from 1814 until his death, in 1838 he was elected bishop of Modena by Gregory XVI, and dedicated the greatest care of his episcopal ministry to the formation of the young clergy and to charitable works, among which principally a shelter home for priests, which however he was unable to see inaugurated before his death. The stipulation of the Concordat of 1841 between the Holy See and the Este government prompted him to implement the concordat agreements with tireless alacrity: he supervised the establishment of the ecclesiastical court and personally assumed the presidency of the Administrative Commission for ecclesiastical benefices and church building funds. He was a discreet and enlightened counselor to Duke Francesco V, who was particularly fond of him, through which he exercised significant influence on the politics of Modena in his time. His passing aroused universal grief and his funeral turned into an authentic apotheosis of the pious prelate.