GIOVANNI BATTISTA SCANAROLI. — Eminent churchman distinguished for works of charity, born in Modena in 1579, died in Rome on 10 Sept. 1664. He attended the schools of the Jesuits and in 1598 entered the novitiate of St Andrew at Monte Cavallo in Rome, but at the urging of relatives he left and went on to study at the University of Macerata, where he earned a doctorate in jurisprudence (1604).
He then went to Rome, where for about 40 years he served as an advocate for prisoners, protector of the Archconfraternity of Charity, Roman citizen (1613), general superintendent of the Barberini family’s estates, priest (1622), bishop of Sidon and Tyre (1630), and vicar of Cardinal Barberini for the basilica of St Peter. His chief concern, however, was always the abandoned poor, widows, spinsters, and prisoners, whom he supported and defended with his intellect and tireless efforts, providing them with thousands of scudi. In the final years of his life he returned to the aforesaid Jesuit novitiate, where he died, leaving as a notable monument to his learning and remarkable activity the work *De visitatione carceratorum libri tres* (Rome 1655 and 1675). A copy of this rare work (ed. Rome 1675) is preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale of Modena.