Antonio Bresciani (writer)


Antonio Bresciani was an Italian Jesuit priest and writer, mostly known for his reactionary diatribes against liberalism and the Risorgimento. The Marxist intellectual Antonio Gramsci used the terms "Brescianism" and "Father Bresciani's progeny" to describe literature of a conservative and populist bent.

Anti-Semite

Bresciani's theories are characteristic of the "paranoid style" in politics, positing a Satanic conspiracy among secret societies and Jews to undermine the Christian order. Bresciani's highly popular novel 1850 novel L'Ebreo di Verona shaped religious anti-Semitism for decades in Italy, as did his work for La Civiltà Cattolica, which he helped launch.

Selected Works