Lettere inedite a Francesco Colangelo nei manoscritti Ferrajoli 867 e 941 della Biblioteca Vaticana, «Giornale critico della filosofia italiana», XCI, 2012, fasc. I, pp. 44-60. ISSN: 0017-0089. (original) (raw)
In Biblioteca Vaticana si conservano due manoscritti (Ferr. 867 e Ferr. 941) con più di duecento lettere di personaggi illustri, letterati e cardinali a Francesco Colangelo (Napoli 1769-ivi 1836). Oratoriano, vescovo di Castellammare e Lettere, presidente della Pubblica Istruzione dal 1824 al 1831, autore tra l’altro de Il Galileo proposto per guida alla gioventù studiosa. Le lettere degli anni 1791-1805 forniscono notizie inedite sulla sua biografia, sulle sue relazioni con gli esponenti della Repubblica letteraria, sulla genesi e sulla diffusione delle sue prime opere, mettendone in luce l’origine apologetica. Un primo passo per andare oltre il quasi unanime giudizio di riprovazione della storiografia. Two manuscripts in the Vatican Library collection (Ferr. 867 and Ferr. 941) contain over two-hundred letters addressed by various personages, men of letters, and high-ranking churchmen to Francesco Colangelo (Naples 1769-1836). A somewhat controversial figure, Colangelo was an Oratorian, bishop of the dioceses of Castellammare and Lettere, and also head of education from 1824 to 1831 and author, among other things, of a handbook on Galileo for the schools (Il Galileo proposto per guida alla gioventù studiosa). The letters belonging to the years 1791-1805 are of particular importance in clarifying aspects of his biography, his exchanges with representatives of the “Repubblica letteraria”, and the composition and circulation of his early production, bringing to light its underlying apologetic motive. A study of these epistulary exchanges may thus contribute to redress the quasi unanimous reproof of historiographers.
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