Antonio Rosmini-Serbati

Antonio Rosmini-Serbati , 1797-1855, Italian theologian. Ordained a priest in 1821, he attempted to establish a philosophical system based on Roman Catholicism but incorporating modern political and social ideas. Politically, he believed in a form of Italian nationalism in which the pope would head the combined states as a perpetual president. He founded (1828) the Institute of the Brethren of Charity (Rosminians), whose members were laymen and clergy devoted to education and charity, a movement that spread to England and the United States. In 1830, Rosmini wrote Nuovo saggio sull origine delle idee (tr. Origin of Ideas, 1883-86), which presented some of his basic philosophical beliefs. In 1848 his Cinque piaghe della Santa Chiesa (tr. The Five Wounds of the Holy Church, 1883) appeared. This book aroused instant opposition, particularly from the Jesuits, and it was placed on the Index, although later released.

Bibliography: See J. F. Bruno, Rosmini's Contribution to Ethical Philosophy (1916); biography by C. Leetham (1959).

Rosmini-Serbati, Antonio (1797–1855), Italian philosopher. His system is a form of Idealism, founded on the leading idea of indeterminate being, innate in the human soul. If analysed, this idea divides itself into a plurality of other ideas which are identical with those that are in the mind of God. He distinguished between degrees of being according to their completeness, God alone being absolutely complete. The being, however, which actualizes finite nature and which is the object of human intuition, is ‘something of God’, though not God Himself. Some of Rosmini's works were put on the Index in 1849, though removed before his death, but 40 propositions were mildly condemned in 1887–8.

In 1828 he founded the congregation of ‘Fathers of Charity’, often known as ‘Rosminians’. Its aim is the sanctification of its members, along with such works of charity as they may be called upon to perform.