Skip to content
Deacon Keith Fournier Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Help Now >

Paolo Vergani

Free World Class Education
FREE Catholic Classes

Italian political economist, b. in Piedmont, 1753; d. in Paris, about 1820. As a student, he devoted himself especially to ecclesiastical and civil law, and history. Having won distinction in theology, and been ordained priest, he went to Rome the better to prosecute his studies and soon became a canon of St. John Lateran. It was then that he wrote the "Trattato sulla pena di morte" (2nd ed., Milan, 1780), the "Discorso sulla giustizia criminale", and "Dell' enormità del duello", which earned for him a distinguished position among the jurists of the eighteenth century and particularly contributed to the reform of the criminal law. It was also probably due to them that he was appointed assessor general of finances and commerce, and inspector of agriculture and he arts. He wrote on the financial system of the Pontifical States as reformed by Pius VI (Rome, 1791), taking the position of an advocate of import duties for the protection of home industries, and maintaining that agriculture cannot be the only source of wealth in a state. He displays at the same time a thorough acquaintance with the history of political economy . In this work the author makes a remarkable appeal to religion and the duty of Christian charity, asserting the necessity of protecting and fostering the home industries, which provide occupation for so large a number of people, while manufacturing and foreign importation give work to only a few. This literary activity was interrupted for some thirty years: the Lateran Chapter having been dispersed in 1811, Monsignor Vergani went to Paris and there supported himself by giving lessons in Italian. He published also "la législation de Napoléon le Grand considéréé dans ses rapports avec l'agriculture" (Paris, 1812) and "Essai historique sur le dernière persécution de l'église" (1814).

Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.

Prayer of the Day logo
Saint of the Day logo

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

Catholic Online Logo

Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.

Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.