The Leopardi family and the Society of Jesus

There are many links between the Leopardi family and the Society of Jesus, in today’s episode we will highlight some of the lesser known ones.

The First Generation

Not many people know that the tutor of Giacomo Leopardi’s father, Monaldo, had been a Spanish Jesuit, expelled from Spain during the years of the suppression of the Society: Fr. Giuseppe Torres. ARSI also has letters from Monaldo Leopardi addressed to the Father General.

We have no trace of any obvious link between Monaldo’s sons and the Jesuits also because they were born when the Society of Jesus was still suppressed and therefore there were no more colleges in which to enrol them. The link between the Leopardi family and the Society of Jesus continued with the generation following that of the poet.

The Second Generation

His brother Pierfrancesco’s sons, Giacomo and Luigi Leopardi, born on 24 March 1843 and 31 December 1844 respectively, were enrolled in the Loreto boarding school of the Society of Jesus, which we have previously talked about.

Giacomo Leopardi was enrolled at the age of nine, in 1851, while his brother Luigi was to follow him two years later in 1853, at the age of eleven, accompanied by the Rector himself who had travelled as far as Recanati to fetch him. They remained in Loreto until 1860 when the college closed due to the arrival of Italian troops, shortly before the birth of the Kingdom of Italy. In the same years, members of the Antici family, from which the poet’s mother, Adelaide, born Antici, came, also studied here. Thanks to the student lists we are able to know all the names of the boarders who studied with the Leopardi and Antici families until the college was opened. Our Archives also preserve the home diaries from which it is possible to reconstruct the lives of the boarding school children: their studies, recreational activities.

The current members of the Leopardi family are descendants of Pierfrancesco Leopardi and his wife Cleofe Ferretti.

The third generation

There was another Monaldo Leopardi, great-grandson of the poet, who not only attended Jesuit schools but also entered the Society of Jesus.

After attending the Collegio dei Nobili at Villa Mondragone he expressed the desire to enter the novitiate. Professor Vittorio Capuzza dedicated an article to Monaldo Leopardi and his journey in the Society of Jesus, discovering that the decision was not welcomed serenely in the family but was opposed by the boy’s father. In fact, he went to the novitiate several times to ask to have his son leave the order and convince him to desist from his intention.

Unfortunately, for health reasons, Monaldo preferred to leave the Society of Jesus a few years after his novitiate and return to Recanati as a priest. He died in his city at only 26 years of age.

His brothers had also studied at the Collegio dei Nobili in Villa Mondragone: Hector and Monalduzio. The latter chose the religious life and received priestly ordination, later being appointed bishop of Osimo and Cingoli until his death in 1944.

Our Historical Archives had contacted the Leopardi family informing them of the existence of this documentation, receiving a kind reply from Count Vanni Leopardi, who unfortunately passed away in 2019.

Maria Macchi