SALISTRI, GIOVANNI CRISOSTOMO. - Piarist, b. in Firenze on 4 March 1654, d. in Roma on 10 Dec. 1717. To a vast philosophical, theological, and above all ascetical culture he joined the virtues proper to a saint.
Called to Roma while still young, he was the founder and organizer of the celebrated Apostolic Hospice of S. Michele a Ripa, established by Pope Innocenzo XI, Odescalchi, to whom S. was very dear. Appointed visitor of the houses of the Order in Poland, he undertook a most arduous journey: on that occasion he wrote and had printed in Varsavia the small volume Theopistus, in order to defend himself against the accusations of Molinism brought against him in his absence before the Roman Curia. Fully vindicated, upon his return he received several offices, especially that of general of the Scuole Pie, with which Clemente XI honored him in 1706. His government was among the most exemplary. At the end of his six-year term, he withdrew to his beloved Apostolic Hospice. He published many learned works of an ascetical and mystical character.