Hyacinthe Sigismond Gerdil

Hyacinthe Sigismond Gerdil, CRSP (20 June 1718 – 12 August 1802) was an Italiantheologian, bishop and cardinal, who was a significant figure in the response of the papacy to the assault on the Catholic Church by the upheavals caused by the French Revolution.

Gerdil was born in 1718 at Samoëns in the Duchy of Savoy to Pierre Gerdil, a notary, and Françoise Perrier, a native of Taninges. When 15 years old, he joined the Barnabites at Annecy, and was sent to Bologna to pursue his theological studies; also having an interest in the sciences, he devoted his mind to the various branches of knowledge with great success. While he improved his command of Italian, he came the attention of Propero Lambertini, Archbishop of Bologna, later Pope Benedict XIV, who used the young seminarian in his own study of French texts.

After Gerdil had completed his initial studies in 1738, he was assigned to teach philosophy at the Barnabite college in Macerata, then the same at the school at Casale Monferrato (1739-1748). During this period, in 1741, he was ordained to the priesthood. By 1749, the range and quality of his writings led to his induction by various scientific and literary societies across Europe, ranging from the Bologna Institute of Sciences and the Royal Society of London to the Accademia degli Arcadi in Rome. That same year he was appointed as professor of philosophy at the University of Turin, transferring to the teach of moral theology in 1754.

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