ROSSIGNOLI, GIOVANNI PIETRO. Philosopher and sociologist, b. at Borgomanero on 3 Sept. 1851, d. at Novara on 24 March 1909. In 1870 he enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine at Turin, where he came into contact with the materialist doctrines of his teachers in *L'Unità cattolica* (1871) and became part of the editorial staff of *La Palestra* (1875), publishing a *Teoria fisiologica e psicologica dell'istinto animale della volontà umana*, which was later to earn him qualification to teach philosophy. His thought turned toward and adhered to the Neoscholastic movement.
Abandoning medicine, he resumed ecclesiastical studies and was ordained in 1878. As a teacher in the Seminary of Novara, he wrote a *Corso di filosofia* that was highly regarded at the time and went through several editions. Canon of the Cathedral (1897), he was shortly afterward named a member of the Roman Academy of St Thomas. He devoted himself intensively to social issues and presided over the *Opera dei congressi* (q.v.) in his diocese. In 1897, through his initiative, a chair of sociology was established in the Seminary, and he became its incumbent. Besides numerous articles in *La Scuola cattolica* and the *Rivista internazionale di scienze sociali*, and other literary, poetic, and hagiographic works, he also wrote: *Il determinismo nella sociologia positiva* (Rome 1893–94); *Concetto dell'autorità politica nella sociologia cristiana* (Siena 1903); *La famiglia, il lavoro, e la proprietà nello Stato moderno* (Novara 1907).