SORDI, Domenico and Serafino. — Two of the five Sordi brothers from Piacenza, all of whom were Jesuits, who distinguished themselves for their contribution to the renewal of Scholastic philosophy in the 19th century, following the direction received from Canon Vincenzo Buzzetti, their teacher at the Piacenza Seminary.
Domenico (b. at Centenario di Piacenza on 30 April 1790, d. at Piacenza on 10 December 1880), while teaching ethics and natural law in Naples (1829–30), was the principal collaborator of Taparelli (q.v.) in the reform of studies in the new Neapolitan Scholasticism, but due to his imprudent conduct he was removed from teaching and left no philosophical writings. Serafino, however (b. at Centenario di Piacenza on 3 February 1793, d. at Verona on 17 May 1865), exerted a very considerable influence on the Thomist revival through his teaching, his writings, and his contact with eminent men such as Taparelli, Curci, and Giuseppe Pecci. He taught in Ferrara, Modena, Forlì, Spoleto, was rector in Urbino, Modena, Piacenza, and Reggio, provincial in Rome, and writer for La Civiltà Cattolica. He wrote several pamphlets of a philosophical nature, examining and criticizing the philosophical ideas of Gioberti and Rosmini (Lettere intorno al Nuovo Saggio sull'origine delle idee dell'ab. A. Rosmini, Modena 1843; I primi elementi del sistema di V. lui e un lettore dell'opera sua, Bergamo 1849; I misteri di Demofilo per S. S. professore di filosofia, Torino 1850); other writings in which he expounded his philosophical thought remained unpublished, and some have been published recently (Ontologia, Theologia naturalis aliaque philosophica scripta, ed. P. Dezza, Milano 1941–44). Although his early studies were not Scholastic in orientation, upon coming into contact with Thomist thought he was filled with admiration for it and from then on had no doubts or hesitations, whence the profound conviction that shines through his writings, together with penetrating and acute speculation, solid logic in the development of his thought, wide knowledge of modern authors and systems, and clarity of exposition. Of a modest and reserved character, to the point of publishing some works anonymously, his name did not receive the recognition that his work merited.