Giovanni Perrone (11 March 1794 – 26 August 1876) was an Italian Jesuit and renowned theologian.

Life

Perrone was born in

Chieri Chieri (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont (Italy), located about southeast of Turin, by rail and by road. It borders the following municipalities: Baldissero Torinese, Pavarolo, Montaldo Torinese, Pino ...

, Piedmont. After studying theology and obtaining a doctorate at

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, he entered the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

in Rome at age 21, on 14 December 1815. The Society had been re-established by

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII (; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823) was head of the Catholic Church from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. He ruled the Papal States from June 1800 to 17 May 1809 and again ...

only a year before, and Perrone was very soon appointed to teach theology at

Orvieto Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...

. In 1824 he became professor of dogmatic theology at the

Roman College The Roman College (, ) was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 11 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school through university level and moved to seve ...

, where he taught the future

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

. In 1830 he was made rector of the Jesuit college in Ferrara, but was recalled to the Roman College in 1838. Beginning in 1847, Perrone corresponded at length with

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...

, particularly on the development of doctrine. The

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

of 1849 forced him to seek refuge in England. After an exile of three years, Perrone again took the chair of dogma in the Roman College, being made head of his former college in 1850. He taught theology until prevented by old age. An advisor to Popes

Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI (; ; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in June 1846. He had adopted the name Mauro upon enteri ...

and

Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

, he was consultor of various congregations and was active in opposing some teachings of George Hermes as well as the discussions which ended in 1854 in the dogmatic definition of the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...

. From 1869 he was prominent on the

Ultramontane Ultramontanism is a clerical political conception within the Catholic Church that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope. It contrasts with Gallicanism, the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by ...

side at

Vatican Council I The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I, was the 20th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the preceding Council of Trent which was adjourned in 156 ...

.Drum, Walter. "Giovanni Perrone." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.

Works

Of Perrone's many writings the most important is the ''Prælectiones Theologicæ'', which reached a thirty-fourth edition in nine volumes. The compendium which Perrone made of this work reached forty-seven editions in two volumes. It was one of the most widely used books on Catholic dogmatics in the 19th cent."Giovanni Perrone", ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'', 2 ed., ( E. A. Livingstone, ed.) OUP 2006, His complete theological lectures were published in French and ran through several editions; portions were translated into Spanish, Polish, German, Dutch, and other languages. His numerous dogmatic works are characteristic of the Roman theology of the time. They include ''Praelectiones theologicae, quas in Collegio Romano S.J. habebat Joannes Perrone'' (9 vols., Rome, 1835 sqq.), ''Praelectiones hierologicae in compendium redactae'' (4 vols., Rome, 1845), ''Il Hermesianismo'' (Rome, 1838), ''Il Protestantismo e la regola di fede'' (3 vols., 1853), and ''De divinitate D. N. Jesu Christi'' (3 vols., Turin, 1870).

Notes

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perrone, Giovanni 19th-century Italian Jesuits 1794 births 1876 deaths 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians Jesuit theologians People from Chieri