Gioberti

Gioberti, Vincenzo (1801-1852), an Italian philosopher and political writer, was born at Turin, and educated for the priesthood. He was made chaplain by Charles Albert on his accession to the throne of Sardinia, but two years later was imprisoned and then banished on account of his liberal opinions. He went to Brussels in 1834. where for eleven years he was teacher of philosophy in a school, and devoted his leisure to his favourite studies. His Introduction to the Study of Philosophy (1839-1840) was Platonic in tendency. After publishing some essays, he began to concern himself with less abstract subjects, writing several political works. Of these The Moral and Civil Primacy of Italy proposed a confederation of Italian princes, with the Pope as their head and the King of Sardinia as protector. In 1848, when he returned to Italy, he was received with open arms by his countrymen, was elected representative for Turin, and subsequently became President of that Chamber and Prime Minister of Sardinia. He soon, however, resigned office, and went on a mission to Paris, where he settled and published his work on The Civil Renovation of Italy (1851). Although he wrote a book against the Jesuits, and some of his works were placed in the Index Expurgatorius, Gioberti was by no means a heretic, and his earliest work was a defence of the supernatural.