AUGUSTINIS, AEMILIO DE

Theologian and educator; b. Naples, Italy, Dec. 28, 1829; d. Rome, Jan. 17, 1899. Service in the army interrupted his legal studies at the Royal University in Naples. After briefly resuming the study of law, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Conocchia, near Naples, Jan. 24, 1855. Garibaldi's revolution disrupted his theological studies, and he was transferred to the theologate at Laval, France, where he remained until his ordination, 1861. Two years later he left to spend a year in the Jesuit province of Champagne, France, after which he returned to Laval, where he served as professor of dogma, prefect of studies, and director of the library. In 1869 De Augustinis joined the faculty of the Jesuits' new scholasticate in Woodstock, Maryland, as professor of Sacred Scripture and librarian. During his tenure at Woodstock he served also as professor of ethics and dogma, and was one of the founders and editors of the Woodstock Letters, a news publication for Jesuits. In 1885 De Augustinis, who had been cited by Leo XIII for his contributions as a theologian, was assigned to the commission revising Jesuit theological studies. When the commission completed its work, he succeeded his former Woodstock colleague, Cardinal Camillo Mazzella, as professor of dogma at the Gregorian University in Rome. De Augustinis served also as rector of the Gregorian University from September 1891 to October 1895. In October 1897 he became ill and was forced to give up teaching, but he held certain minor positions until his death.

Bibliography: p. j. dooley, Woodstock and Its Makers (Woodstock, Md. 1927). "Two of Woodstock's Founders," Woodstock Letters 29 (1900) 309–315.

[f. g. mcmanamin]