Ambrogio Maria Amèlli

Guerrino Amèlli OSB (18 March 1848 – 25 August 1933), better known by his religious name Ambrogio Maria Amèlli, was an Italian Roman Catholic priest, theologian, literary scholar, musicologist, archivist, librarian, and prior of Monte Cassino Abbey. Amèlli did an extraordinarily varied research work in biblical studies, patristics, liturgical history, and musicology.

Biography

Born in Milan, Amèlli studied literature, music, and theology at the Monza Seminary. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Milan on September 20, 1870.

He first worked as a librarian at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, conducting biblical, patristic, and liturgical studies. In 1885 he entered the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino and made his profession there on March 7. He was archivist at Monte Cassino for many years until 1908, when he was appointed abbot of the Abbey of Santa Maria in Florence. From there he went to Rome and collaborated in the revision of the Vulgate.

Amèlli's name is associated in the first place with the restoration of ancient sacred music in Italy. He first advocated this at the first Italian Catholic Congress in Venice in 1874. In 1877, he founded the Italian sacred music association Santa Cecilia, of which he was president until 1885, as well as the journal Musica Sacra (alongside Jacopo Tomadini), which was intended to ensure the widest possible dissemination of his new ideas in the field of sacred music. In 1878 he founded the publishing house Calcografia for the printing of sacred music.

After the Congress of Sacred Music in Milan in 1880, he hoped for a possibility of publishing his Micrologo and his Antifonario. However, for lack of funds, this publication had to be suspended. At the Congress of Liturgical Chant in Arezzo in 1882, which he sponsored, he represented the school of Solesme, which advocated the restoration of the old Gregorian chant traditions, against the so-called Regensburg school. This effort was initially unsuccessful. It was not until the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Pius X that the issue of the re-establishment of ancient church music was revived. Amèlli's theses were taken up again. He himself was asked to revive the now defunct Italian church music association Santa Cecilia in the manner of the German-speaking Cecilian Association. He then directed this association until 1909.

Among Amèlli's musicological publications, special mention should be made of: La restaurazione della Musica sacra in Italia ("The Restoration of Sacred Music in Italy"), I difetti dell'organo italiano in confronto dell'organo estero ("The Deficiencies of the Italian Organ in Comparison with the Foreign Organ"), the Critical Edition of Guido d'Arezzo's Micrologus Compiled According to the Most Reliable Codes (1904).

Amèlli also took a prominent position in matters of biblical research. From 1910 he headed the Commission for the Revision of the Vulgate as vice-president.

References

• J. Schmid, "Amelli, Ambrogio". In: Josef Höfer, Karl Rahner, eds., Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, Vol. 1. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder (1957), p. 431.

External links

• "Ambrogio Amèlli". In: Biographia Benedictina.