GIOBERTI, VINCENZO, was born on the 5th of April 1801, in the city of Torino (Turin), the capital of the kingdom of Sardinia. He studied with a view to the ecclesiastical profession, and having completed his education in the University of Turio, received the degree of Doctor of Theology, and became one of the teachers in the theological college. Soon after the accession in 1831 of Charles Albert to the throne of Sardinia, Gioberti was appointed chaplain to the court, and continued to perform the duties of this office till 1833, when, on come accusation or suspicion of being implicated iu the political agitations then prevailing in various parts of Italy, ho was suddenly seized in the apnrtmcute which he occupied in the palace, and imprisoned in the citadel. There ho was detained some weeks, but was at length net at liberty on the condition that he quitted the couutry as au exile. He went to Paris, where ho resided till the end of ]834, when he removed to Brussels, having accepted the offer of a situation as teacher in one of the public schools of that city.
Gioberti wrote at Brussels, during his long abode there as an exile, nearly all those works which not only extended his literary reputation throughout the whole of Europe, but produced that enthusiasm of admiration which was displayed by the Italians after his return to his native country. The first of these works was the ' Teorica del Sovrauatumle, osia Discorso sulle Convenienze della Religion° Rivelata calla Mente Umana e col Progresso Civile dello Nazioni,' 8vo, 1337. lima nett work was the Introduzione alto Studio della Filosofia,' Svo, 1840, which was followed by the 'Lettere intorno agli Errori Filosofici di Antonio Rosiniui,' 3 vole. Svo, 1841.42; and the two treatises 'Del Bobo,' Svo, 1841, and 'Dcl Buono,' Svo, 1843. His 'Primate Morale o Civilo degli Italiani,' Svo, 1343, was read with eagerness in every part of Italy, and excited expectations of the regeneration of that unfortunate country which, with the solo exception of the Sardinian kingdom, have not hitherto been realised. There was to be a confede ration of the Italian states, in which the kings and princes, tho pope and the priests, the citizens, and even the monks and Jesuits, were n11 to bear a part. The states were to bo reformed, and popular rights and privileges gradually established. The pope was to be the religious
head of the confederation, and Rome the capital city ; the King of Sardiuia was to be the military chief, and Turin the grand citadel.
The Jesnits alone were dissatisfied, and Gioberti attacked them in his ' Prolegomeni,' Svo, 1895. Pius IX., ou his accessiou to the papal chair in 1846, adopted the views of Gioberti, and began to carry out the reforms in '11 Primato ;' and as the opposition of the Jesuits still continued, Gioberti produced his great attack on their principles and practice, under the title of II Cesuita Modena,' 5 vols. 8vo, Lausanne, 1897.
When the French revolution of February 1848 occurred, Goberti was at Paris occupied with his plans for the renovation of Italy. On the 25th of April he quitted Paris, after an exile of fifteen years, to return to his native city of Turin, where his arrival was welcomed by a display of banners by day. and illuminations and fireworks at night, accompanied with music and dancing and patriotic songs; and after wards, when he passed through Milan, Genoa, Florence, Rome, and other places, he was everywhere received with the greatest enthu siasm, so that Lis journey resembled a triumphal procession. On his return to Turin he was elected a member of the chamber of deputies, of which he was unanimously chosen president. He was opposed to all violent reforms, but the tide of political excitement in the year 1843 threw him into the ranks of the opposition, and on the 16th of December the king appointed him the prime minister of a democratic cabinet. He soon found himself to be in a false position, and the differences of opinion between himself and his colleagues led to a dissolution of the ministry on the 18th of February 1899. He was ancceeded by Pinelli, and soon afterwards was sent to Paris to solicit aid from the French government in the approaching contest with Austria. his mission was of no avail. Milan was reconquered by Rad etzky, Charles-Albert defeated at Novara, and Victor-Emmanuel II. has alone, of all the rulers of Italy, preserved for his subjects a con stitutional government, a free press, and a just administration of the laws. Gioberti remained in Paris, and the fruit of his renewed studies was his work ' Del Riunovamento Civile d'Italis,' 2 vols. 8vo, 1851. He died October 26, 1852, at Paris.