SOMIGLI, Teodosio. — Franciscan friar, born Scipione on 18 July 1864 in the parish of Sandetele, municipality of Dicomano (Florence). He entered the Franciscan Order on 22 July 1879 and was ordained priest on 9 May 1887.
A distinguished preacher, endowed with vast learning, for about 40 years he exercised a fruitful apostolate in Austria, Greece, Egypt, Brazil, and above all in Italy, everywhere arousing approval and fervor in Christian life. In 1907 he first came to Egypt. At the invitation of the procurator of the Franciscan mission in Egypt, Fr. Antonio Riscardo Fattori, he planned to write the history of the Franciscan missions in Egypt and Abyssinia. During various journeys in Egypt he studied the material available there, supplementing it in Jerusalem and Prague. The principal field of his research, however, was the Roman archives, above all that of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda. He soon entered into relations with Frs. Leonardo Lemmens and Girolamo Golubovich, wishing to follow their method in the publication of documents. S. proposed two major parts: Franciscan Abyssinia and Franciscan Egypt. In 1928 appeared the two-part volume: Franciscan Ethiopia, covering the years 1633 to 1681. Fr. Golubovich included it in his collection Biblioteca bio-bibliografica di Terra Santa. Shortly afterward, on 31 March 1929, S. died in Rome. Only after 20 years did his continuator, Fr. Giovanni Maria Montano, publish the second volume (1691–1703). His work, however, lacks true critical sense. He also published other works of a popular and preaching nature and left many others in manuscript (v. Studi francescani, 26 [1929], pp. 285–90).