Somigli, Teodosio

SOMIGLI, TEODOSIO. - Franciscan friar, born Scipione, 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.

A distinguished preacher, endowed with wide culture, for about 40 years he carried out a fruitful apostolate in Austria, Greece, Egypt, Brazil and above all in Italy, arousing everywhere approval and fervor of Christian life. In 1907 he reached 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 of Egypt and Abyssinia. During various journeys in Egypt he studied the material existing there, completing it in Jerusalem and Prague. The main field of research, however, was the Roman archives, first of all that of the S. C. of Propaganda. He soon entered into relations with Frs. Leonardo Lemmens and Girolamo Golubovich, wishing in the publication of the documents to follow their method. S. set himself two great parts: Abissinia Francescana and Egitto Francescano. In 1928 the first vol. appeared in two parts: Etiopia Francescana, comprising the years from 1633 to 1681. Fr. Golubovich inserted it into his collection Biblioteca bio-bibliografica di Terra Santa. Shortly afterwards, on 31 March 1929, S. died in Rome. Only after 20 years could his continuator Fr. Giovanni Maria Montano publish the second vol. (1691-1703). His work, however, lacks a true critical sense. He also published other works of a popularizing and preaching character and left many others in manuscript (v. Studi francescani, 26 [1929], pp. 285-90).