Giacinto Achilli
Encyclopedia
Giovanni Giacinto Achilli (c. 1803–c. 1860) was an Italian
Roman Catholic who was discharged from the priest
hood for sexual misconduct and subsequently became a fervent advocate of the Protestant evangelical
cause. He is particularly notable for his activities in England
and for launching a successful criminal prosecution against John Henry Newman for libel.
, a village c. 30 km from Viterbo
, then part of the Papal States
. He joined the Dominican order
in 1819 and was ordained a priest in 1825. There followed a sequence of disciplinary actions and sanctions, largely arising from sexual misconduct including the alleged rape
of a 15 year old girl in Naples
in 1840.
On 16 June 1841, the Roman Inquisition
finally lost patience and permanently suspended Achilli from the cure of souls
, sentencing him to three years' penance at a remote monastery at San Nazzaro
. However, in 1842, Achilli made his way to Corfu
, then a British protectorate
, and claimed political asylum alleging that he was a cavaliere and that he had escaped from the fortress at Ancona
. The local authorities were minded to grant the papal
consul
's request for extradition
until they discovered that Achilli was claiming to have converted to Protestantism and was engaged in fervent anti-Catholic propaganda, largely under the influence of Isaac Lowndes, the Scottish
presbyterian secretary of the Bible Society
. However, this did not deter Achilli from more sexual escapades, seductions and affairs. He made alliances with exiled Italian nationalists but they were later to denounce him when he dishonestly took advantage of them.
in 1846, opening an Italian church, in May 1847 he travelled to London
. There, the committee of the Protestant College of St Julian's, Malta, appointed him professor with a special mission to spread Protestantism to Italy. However, during his absence from Malta, two of his fellow priests were accused of "fornication
" and it was further alleged that Achilli had encouraged them in their misconduct. Achilli returned to Malta in December but was dismissed by the London committee, along with his fellow accused, in May 1848.
However, he returned to London in June, where he still enjoyed important supporters including Sir Culling Eardley Eardley, chairman of the Evangelical Alliance
.
, Rome
was in the hands of Italian nationalists who established the Roman Republic
in February 1849. Achilli travelled there in early 1849 and continued his Protestant, anti-Catholic and pro-nationalist propaganda. On 24 June 1849 he married Josephine Hely, the youngest daughter of Captain James Hely, whose family he had befriended when in England.
The Roman Republic fell in June 1849 when the French
took the city and reinstated Pope Pius IX
's political authority. Though French president Louis Napoleon had requested that the Pope grant an amnesty, Achilli was arrested by the Cardinal Vicar
and imprisoned by the Inquisition, in the Castel Sant'Angelo
, for preaching against the Catholic religion and taking part in revolutionary agitation. There Augustin Theiner
attempted to reconvert him to Catholicism, to no avail. Lewis Tonna
and other London evangelicals canvassed the French government in October 1849 and succeeding in effecting Achilli's release.
for fear of a libel suit.
Hope-Scott was reassuring, expressing the opinion that an action was possible but not probable and that the risk was worth taking. Newman delivered his lecture on 28 July 1850. In August, The Evangelical Alliance gave notice that they intended to support Achilli in a libel action against Newman.
In November 1851, Achilli swore an affidavit
denying the allegations made against him. This enabled him to bring criminal
proceedings for the common law offence of defamatory libel
against Newman, rather than a simple civil action for damages
. Newman was liable to maximum sentence
of an unlimited fine or a year's imprisonment
.
The trial began on 21 June and lasted five days. The Attorney-General
Sir Frederic Thesiger
led for the prosecution, assisted by Solicitor-General
Sir Fitzroy Kelly
. Newman was supported by a formidable team of lawyers led by Sir Alexander Cockburn
and including sympathetic Anglo-Catholic Edward Lowth Badeley
. Henry Matthews had advised Newman to plead justification
, that the allegations were true, and the English libel law put the burden of proof on Newman. Newman sent a deputation abroad to gather evidence and they returned with some of Achilli's victims from Italy and Malta, willing to give evidence. However, the presiding judge
, John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell
, refused the witnesses' testimony and allegedly fuelled the jury
's prejudice against Newman. Judge Campbell was the first judge to admit a document from the Roman Inquisition as evidence in an English court.
Newman was convicted of libel on 25 June 1852. It was found that he had failed to justify 22 of the 23 charges. On 31 January 1853, he was fined £100 (£8,800 at 2003 prices). His £12,000 legal costs (£1 million at 2003 prices) were borne by an international public subscription among Catholics.
summarised liberal opinion when it described the proceedings as:
The outcome of the trial was a Pyrrhic victory
for Achilli whose reputation was ruined. He travelled to the U.S. in 1853 with the Swedenborgians and worked for the American Bible Union on translating the New Testament
into Italian. He sent his wife to Italy and, in 1859 found himself in court accused of adultery with a Miss Bogue. In 1860, he disappeared, leaving his eldest son, aged eight, to the care of Miss Bogue and writing a note implying that he intended suicide
. Nothing more is known of him.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Roman Catholic who was discharged from the priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
hood for sexual misconduct and subsequently became a fervent advocate of the Protestant evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
cause. He is particularly notable for his activities in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and for launching a successful criminal prosecution against John Henry Newman for libel.
Early life as a priest
Achilli was born in CellenoCelleno
Celleno is a comune in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Lazio, located about 80 km northwest of Rome and about 15 km north of Viterbo....
, a village c. 30 km from Viterbo
Viterbo
See also Viterbo, Texas and Viterbo UniversityViterbo is an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It is approximately 80 driving / 80 walking kilometers north of GRA on the Via Cassia, and it is surrounded by the Monti Cimini and...
, then part of the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
. He joined the Dominican order
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
in 1819 and was ordained a priest in 1825. There followed a sequence of disciplinary actions and sanctions, largely arising from sexual misconduct including the alleged rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
of a 15 year old girl in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
in 1840.
On 16 June 1841, the Roman Inquisition
Roman Inquisition
The Roman Inquisition was a system of tribunals developed by the Holy See during the second half of the 16th century, responsible for prosecuting individuals accused of a wide array of crimes related to heresy, including Protestantism, sorcery, immorality, blasphemy, Judaizing and witchcraft, as...
finally lost patience and permanently suspended Achilli from the cure of souls
Cure of souls
In some denominations of Christianity, the cure of souls , an archaic translation which is better rendered today as "care of souls," is the exercise by a priest of his office. This typically embraces instruction, by sermons and admonitions, and administration of sacraments, to the congregation...
, sentencing him to three years' penance at a remote monastery at San Nazzaro
San Nazzaro
San Nazzaro is a comune in the Province of Benevento in the Italian region Campania, located about 60 km northeast of Naples and about 12 km southeast of Benevento....
. However, in 1842, Achilli made his way to Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
, then a British protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
, and claimed political asylum alleging that he was a cavaliere and that he had escaped from the fortress at Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
. The local authorities were minded to grant the papal
Nuncio
Nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word, Nuntius, meaning "envoy." This article addresses this title as well as derived similar titles, all within the structure of the Roman Catholic Church...
consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
's request for extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
until they discovered that Achilli was claiming to have converted to Protestantism and was engaged in fervent anti-Catholic propaganda, largely under the influence of Isaac Lowndes, the Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
presbyterian secretary of the Bible Society
Bible society
A Bible society is a non-profit organization devoted to translating, publishing, distributing the Bible at affordable costs and advocating its credibility and trustworthiness in contemporary cultural life...
. However, this did not deter Achilli from more sexual escapades, seductions and affairs. He made alliances with exiled Italian nationalists but they were later to denounce him when he dishonestly took advantage of them.
Malta and England
After establishing himself in MaltaMalta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
in 1846, opening an Italian church, in May 1847 he travelled to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. There, the committee of the Protestant College of St Julian's, Malta, appointed him professor with a special mission to spread Protestantism to Italy. However, during his absence from Malta, two of his fellow priests were accused of "fornication
Fornication
Fornication typically refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. For many people, the term carries a moral or religious association, but the significance of sexual acts to which the term is applied varies between religions, societies and cultures. The...
" and it was further alleged that Achilli had encouraged them in their misconduct. Achilli returned to Malta in December but was dismissed by the London committee, along with his fellow accused, in May 1848.
However, he returned to London in June, where he still enjoyed important supporters including Sir Culling Eardley Eardley, chairman of the Evangelical Alliance
Evangelical Alliance
The Evangelical Alliance is a London-based charitable organization founded in 1846. It has a claimed representation of over 1,000,000 evangelical Christians in the United Kingdom and is the oldest alliance of evangelical Christians in the world....
.
Risorgimento
Following the revolutions of 1848 in the Italian statesRevolutions of 1848 in the Italian states
The 1848 revolutions in the Italian states were organized revolts in the states of Italy led by intellectuals and agitators who desired a liberal government. As Italian nationalists they sought to eliminate reactionary Austrian control...
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
was in the hands of Italian nationalists who established the Roman Republic
Roman Republic (19th century)
The Roman Republic was a state declared on February 9, 1849, when the government of Papal States was temporarily substituted by a republican government due to Pope Pius IX's flight to Gaeta. The republic was led by Carlo Armellini, Giuseppe Mazzini and Aurelio Saffi...
in February 1849. Achilli travelled there in early 1849 and continued his Protestant, anti-Catholic and pro-nationalist propaganda. On 24 June 1849 he married Josephine Hely, the youngest daughter of Captain James Hely, whose family he had befriended when in England.
The Roman Republic fell in June 1849 when the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
took the city and reinstated Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
's political authority. Though French president Louis Napoleon had requested that the Pope grant an amnesty, Achilli was arrested by the Cardinal Vicar
Cardinal Vicar
Cardinal Vicar is a title commonly given to the vicar general of the diocese of Rome for the portion of the diocese within Italy. The official title, as given in the Annuario Pontificio , is "Vicar General of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome"...
and imprisoned by the Inquisition, in the Castel Sant'Angelo
Castel Sant'Angelo
The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family...
, for preaching against the Catholic religion and taking part in revolutionary agitation. There Augustin Theiner
Augustin Theiner
Augustin Theiner was a German theologian and historian.He was the son of a shoemaker. As a boy he was a pupil at the gymnasium of St. Mathias at Breslau, and studied theology in the same city. Together with his brother Anthony he wrote, Einfuhrung der erzwungenen Ehelosigkeit bei den Geistlichen...
attempted to reconvert him to Catholicism, to no avail. Lewis Tonna
Lewis Hippolytus Joseph Tonna
Lewis Hippolytus Joseph Tonna was an English polyglot and campaigner on behalf of evangelical protestantism....
and other London evangelicals canvassed the French government in October 1849 and succeeding in effecting Achilli's release.
England and controversy
Achilli's evangelical supporters brought him to England and established him in an Italian chapel under the aegis of the Evangelical Alliance. A series of antagonistic pamphlets established itself between Eardley and prominent English Catholic Cardinal Wiseman, by turns defending and attacking Achilli. In the meantime, Achilli was accused of raping or assaulting four of his domestic servants and a further young woman. In 1850, Pius IX re-established the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in England and Wales (see Roman Catholicism in Great Britain:The Catholic Revival in the Nineteenth Century) and excited popular religious divisions. John Henry Newman was minded to repeat Wiseman's allegations, of sexual immorality and that Achilli had misrepresented his expulsion from the Catholic Church, in a lecture but first took legal advice, on 16 July, from his confidante James Hope-ScottJames Hope-Scott
James Robert Hope-Scott was a British barrister and Tractarian.-Early life and conversion:Born at Great Marlow, in the county of Buckinghamshire, and christened James Robert Hope, he was the third son of Sir Alexander Hope, and grandson of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun...
for fear of a libel suit.
Hope-Scott was reassuring, expressing the opinion that an action was possible but not probable and that the risk was worth taking. Newman delivered his lecture on 28 July 1850. In August, The Evangelical Alliance gave notice that they intended to support Achilli in a libel action against Newman.
Newman's trial for libel
Achilli offered a compromise but Newman felt that he could not admit any culpability. Such an admission would taint Wiseman and the wider church in addition to himself. Newman asked Wiseman for whatever documentary evidence he possessed but Wiseman, unworldly at the best of times, was distracted by other matters and could offer nothing.In November 1851, Achilli swore an affidavit
Affidavit
An affidavit is a written sworn statement of fact voluntarily made by an affiant or deponent under an oath or affirmation administered by a person authorized to do so by law. Such statement is witnessed as to the authenticity of the affiant's signature by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public...
denying the allegations made against him. This enabled him to bring criminal
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
proceedings for the common law offence of defamatory libel
Defamatory libel
Defamatory libel was originally an offence under the common law of England. It has been abolished in England and Wales and Northern Ireland. It was or is a form of criminal libel, a term with which it is synonymous.-England and Wales and Northern Ireland:...
against Newman, rather than a simple civil action for damages
Damages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
. Newman was liable to maximum sentence
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...
of an unlimited fine or a year's imprisonment
Imprisonment
Imprisonment is a legal term.The book Termes de la Ley contains the following definition:This passage was approved by Atkin and Duke LJJ in Meering v Grahame White Aviation Co....
.
The trial began on 21 June and lasted five days. The Attorney-General
Attorney General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...
Sir Frederic Thesiger
Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford
Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford PC KC FRS was a British jurist and Conservative politician. He was twice Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.-Early life:...
led for the prosecution, assisted by Solicitor-General
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...
Sir Fitzroy Kelly
Fitzroy Kelly
Sir Fitzroy Edward Kelly PC, KC , was an English commercial lawyer, Tory politician and judge.-Background and education:...
. Newman was supported by a formidable team of lawyers led by Sir Alexander Cockburn
Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet
Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn, 12th Baronet Q.C. was a Scottish lawyer, politician and judge. A notorious womaniser and socialite, as Lord Chief Justice he heard some of the leading causes célèbres of the 19th century.-Life:Cockburn was born in Alţâna, in what is now Romania and was then...
and including sympathetic Anglo-Catholic Edward Lowth Badeley
Edward Lowth Badeley
Edward Lowth Badeley was an English ecclesiastical lawyer, a member of the Oxford Movement, who was involved in some of the most notorious cases of the nineteenth century-Early life:...
. Henry Matthews had advised Newman to plead justification
Justification (jurisprudence)
Justification in jurisprudence is an exception to the prohibition of committing certain offenses. Justification can be a defense in a prosecution for a criminal offense. When an act is justified, a person is not criminally liable even though his act would otherwise constitute an offense. For...
, that the allegations were true, and the English libel law put the burden of proof on Newman. Newman sent a deputation abroad to gather evidence and they returned with some of Achilli's victims from Italy and Malta, willing to give evidence. However, the presiding judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell
John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell
John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell PC, KC was a British Liberal politician, lawyer, and man of letters.-Background and education:...
, refused the witnesses' testimony and allegedly fuelled the jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
's prejudice against Newman. Judge Campbell was the first judge to admit a document from the Roman Inquisition as evidence in an English court.
Newman was convicted of libel on 25 June 1852. It was found that he had failed to justify 22 of the 23 charges. On 31 January 1853, he was fined £100 (£8,800 at 2003 prices). His £12,000 legal costs (£1 million at 2003 prices) were borne by an international public subscription among Catholics.
After the trial
A leading article in The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
summarised liberal opinion when it described the proceedings as:
The outcome of the trial was a Pyrrhic victory
Pyrrhic victory
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with such a devastating cost to the victor that it carries the implication that another such victory will ultimately cause defeat.-Origin:...
for Achilli whose reputation was ruined. He travelled to the U.S. in 1853 with the Swedenborgians and worked for the American Bible Union on translating the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
into Italian. He sent his wife to Italy and, in 1859 found himself in court accused of adultery with a Miss Bogue. In 1860, he disappeared, leaving his eldest son, aged eight, to the care of Miss Bogue and writing a note implying that he intended suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. Nothing more is known of him.