Raffaello Lambruschini

1788-1873. Italian educational, social, and religious reformer. Born in Genova, ordained a Roman Catholic priest and in charge of the Orvieto diocese, he opposed Napoleonic policies and was imprisoned and sent to Corsica. Freed in 1814, he withdrew to Figline near Florence where he possessed an estate, and devoted himself to improve social conditions by means of schools, educational publications such as La Guida per l'educatore (first review on education), political journals, and other treatises. He also took an active part in government affairs before and after the annexation of Tuscany to the Kingdom of Italy. A man of high ideals and fine intellect, in close touch with all the leading men of Tuscan and Swiss evangelism, he championed the cause of liberty in all its aspects: economic, political, moral, and religious. He opposed the temporal power of the pope and advocated a reform of the Roman Church from within, based on a deepening of the spiritual life of the individual and a return to the simplicity of the Gospel.