TURCHI, ADEDATO. — Capuchin, orator, bishop. Born at Parma on 5 August 1724, died there on 2 September 1803. He entered the Capuchins at Carpi on 21 August 1739.
In his Order he held all the most honored offices, from that of man of letters to that of provincial. From 1768 he was preacher to the court of Parma; in 1778 tutor to the Royal Infantes and confessor to the Royal Family; in 1788 bishop of Parma. He was accused of having once been a freethinker and favorable to the jurisdictionalist policies of Du Tillot. Today, however, T.’s orthodoxy and devotion to the Holy See have been fully recognized.
In addition to the principal cities of Emilia, he was heard with acclaim in Arezzo, Pisa, Florence, Genoa, Rome, and Naples, where he also preached at court in 1767. He was among the first to raise his voice against the errors of French “philosophism.” The needs of the times led him toward apologetic preaching. His preferred arguments are common sense and natural rectitude. All his works—Quaresimali, Omelie, Prediche alla corte, Lettere pastorali, Orazioni funebri, Panegirici—demonstrate originality, argumentative force, and frankness of expression; his masterpiece, however, is considered the Orazione funebre per Maria Teresa. Of his works, 493 in all, besides the numerous partial editions, mention should be made of the complete and fundamental edition of Modena (10 vols., 1818–20; Venice, 20 vols., 1832–34), on which all subsequent editions were based.