SOMIGLI, TEODOSIO. – Franciscan Friar, in the world Scipione, born on 18 July 1864 in the parish of Sandetole in the Municipality of Dicomano (Florence). He entered the Franciscan Order on 22 July 1879 and was ordained a priest on 9 May 1887.
An eminent preacher endowed with a broad culture, for approximately 40 years he carried out a fruitful apostolate in Austria, Greece, Egypt, Brazil, and above all in Italy, everywhere arousing approval and fervor for the Christian life. In 1907 he arrived in Egypt for the first time. At the invitation of the procurator of the Egyptian Franciscan mission, Fr. Atanasio Riccardo Fattori, he planned to write the history of the Franciscan missions in Egypt and Abyssinia. During various journeys in Egypt he studied the material existing there, completing it in Jerusalem and Prague. His principal field of research, however, was the Roman archives, first and foremost that of the S. C. of Propaganda. He soon came into contact with Frs. Leonardo Lemmens and Girolamo Golubovich, wishing to follow their method in publishing the documents. S. planned two major parts: Abissinia Francescana e Egitto Francesco. In 1928 the first volume appeared in two parts: Etiopia Francescana, covering the years from 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 20 years later was his successor, Fr. Giovanni Maria Montano, able to publish the second volume (1691–1703). His work, however, lacks a genuine critical sense. He also published other works of a popularizing and preaching nature, and left many more in manuscript (v. Studi francescani, 26 [1929], pp. 285–90).