Bonaventura Mazzarella 

Born in Gallipoli, Terra d’Otranto, Puglia, he was the second of four children born to Carlo, municipal administrator and by Caterina Forsenito. He received his early education under the guidance of his paternal uncle, the priest Domenico, a former Ordine dei Minimi (Paolotti) monk of Jansenist beliefs. He pursued legal studies at the University of Naples 'Federico II', where he graduated in law in 1840 after attending lessons by the philosopher Pasquale Galluppi. Mazzarella returned to Gallipoli to practice law for five years before becoming a circuit judge, the a giudice regio [royal justice] in Gagliano del Capo, before being assigned to Novoli in February of the following year.

In 1848, Mazzarella married Chiara Tarantini, daughter of a wealthy regional family (they would have no children), and embraced Mazzinian republicanism, founding a branch of Giovine Italia. On 22 May 1848 he resigned in protest after the violent repressions of the previous week, and led for a short time an insurrectionary regional government against the Bourbon rule. The landing of Bourbon troops broke local support, and on 15 July, Mazzarella (realizing they didn't have the necessary forces to resist), dissolved the associationL In September he left Puglia via Monopoli for voluntary exile, after having signed a declaration in which, to make the position of his companions less compromising, took full responsibility for the activities carried out by the association. An arrest warrant and subsequent death sentence were issued for conspiracy. His exile took him through various cities, including Ancona and Rome, where he was present at the declaration of the short-lived Roman Republic, and collaborated on Sterbini's newspaper Il Contemporaneo and fought in the legion of the republican army made up of exiles from the other Italian states. After the repression of the Republic, Mazzarella resumed his wanderings, leaving for Corfu, Athens, Genoa, and Turin, before finally settling in Geneva in March 1852.

While in Turin, Mazzarella connected with the Waldensian movement, converting to protestantism under the influence of Waldensian pastor Jean Pierre Meille, and joining the Waldensian Church. He worked in Geneva, Switzerland among Italian exiles alongside Luigi Desanctis and later moved to Genoa to collaborate with Paolo Geymonat. His evangelical efforts in Genoa, despite attracting hostility from Catholic circles, led to the establishment of the Italian Evangelical Society in 1854 after a schism with the Waldensian Church. Here between 1860 and 1863 he also collaborated with Luigi De Sanctis in running courses for future evangelists such as Bernardo Brachetto and G. B. Dassio.  [Spini 2002: 199, 215] Mazzarella's evangelical activities faced significant opposition, culminating in an attack and conviction for violating the state religion in 1857.  As Spini notes, he moved easily between movements, without holding grudges. When in Genoa he 

induced the free church of Genoa, of which he was an authoritative member, not to join Gavazzi's initiative [the Chiesa Libera or Free Church]. But vice versa he encouraged their adhesion to the Apostolic Church of the Baptists and, when he was in Rome as a parliamentarian, he preached in the Baptist Church of Piazza in Lucina. In 1878 Mazzarella and his family joined the Free Christian Church of the Gavazzians; however they regretted it almost immediately and in 1880 they reunited with the Guicciardinians. It is an exemplary case of the ease of osmosis between one and the other organization existing at the time. And it should be added that Mazzarella, dying, left the Waldensian Table as heir to his assets so that they could be used to increase the interdenominational Evangelical Hospital in Genoa, which still exists today. [Spini 2002: 24]

Mazzarella returned to Novoli in 1860 following an amnesty and published his philosophical work, Critica della scienza, which brought him international recognition. Terenzio Mamiani, the then Minister of Public Education, offered him a chair of pedagogy at the University of Bologna, despite clerical opposition. He moved to Genoa for health reasons, where he held the chair of the history of philosophy at the local university.

Throughout his career, Mazzarella was a dedicated parliamentarian, repeatedly being elected to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy from its first legislature. He was a prominent figure in addressing 'the southern question' and was regarded by Benedetto Croce as one of the leading minds of the Protestant movement in Italy, alongside Enrico Caporali and Pietro Taglialatela. Pietro Siciliani, a noted pedagogist, dubbed him the 'Italian Kant' for his philosophical prowess. He did not, surprisingly, make significant contributions to what was considered the primary Evangelical cause, freedom of religion, while in Parliament. [Spini 2002: 73]

Mazzarella authored several works, including his Critica della scienza (1860), and the three-volume Della critica (1866-1868). He was a prolific writer of Protestant propaganda and philosophical reflections, contributing to various periodicals and controversial works.

He was instrumental in establishing the International Evangelical Hospital in Genoa and the Evangelical Hospital in Naples. Despite his deteriorating health complicated by his epilepsy, Mazzarella remained active in political and religious spheres until his death in Genoa on 6 March 1882. His legacy endures through his contributions to Italian philosophy, evangelical Protestantism, and his advocacy for the southern question in Italy.

Major Works

1853: Osservazioni di un cristiano evangelico sulla pastorale di Monsignor Charvaz (Torino: 1853.

1854: Bonaventura Mazzarella risponde alle accuse del signor T. della Torre (Genova: 1854).

1854: 'Che cosa crediamo noi evangelici italiani', in La Luce evangelica I (1854): 8-11, and La Buona Novella V (1855): 25ss.

1857: Mazzarella, Sulla fede dei cristiani evangelici. Risposta a G. Nazari (Genova: 1857).

1860: Critica della della scienza, (Genova: tip. L. Lavagnino, 1860).

Bibliografia

Camera dei Deputati, Evangelici in Parlamento (1850-1982) (Roma: Camera dei Deputati, 1999), pp. XXIX-XXXII, 67-235.

Jouvenal, R., 'Mazzarella, il Valdismo e la Riforma in Italia nel sec. XIX', Rassegna Storica del Risorgimento XLIII (1956), fasc. III: 419-426.

Mastrogiovanni, S., Un riformatore religioso del Risorgimento. Bonaventura Mazzarella (Torre Pellice: Claudiana, 1957).

Maselli, D., Tra Risveglio e millennio. Storie delle Chiese Cristiane dei Fratelli (1836-1886) (Torino, Claudiana, 1974).

Maselli, D., 'Bonaventura Mazzarella, pastore evangelico, massone e parlamentare', in Protestantesimo e massoneria in Italia nel secolo XX, Atti del convegno internazionale di studi (Torino 15 febbraio 1997), Roma, Edimai, 1997, pp. 51-54.

Maselli, D., 'Bonaventura Mazzarella. Deputato e filosofo', in D. Bognandi and M. Cignoni (eds.), Scelte di fede e di libertà. Profili di evangelici nell’Italia unita (Torino: Claudiana, 2011), pp. 40-43.

Natali, F., Bonaventura Mazzarella e il suo tempo, 1818-1882 (Gallipoli: Grafema, 2001).

Spini, G., L’Evangelo e il berretto frigio. Storia della Chiesa Cristiana Libera in Italia (1870-1904) (Torino: Claudiana, 1971).

Spini, G., Risorgimento e Protestanti (Torino: Claudiana 1998).

Vinay, V., Storia dei Valdesi, III. Dal movimento evangelico italiano al movimento ecumenico (1848-1978) (Torino: Claudiana, 1980.)

Vulcano, G., Bonaventura Mazzarella patriota e uomo politico (Lecce, 1948).

Sources:

Demofonti, Laura, 'MAZZARELLA, Bonaventura', Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 72 (2008), online at https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/bonaventura-mazzarella_(Dizionario-Biografico)

Spini, Giorgio, Italia Liberale e Protestanti: gli invisibili (Torino: Claudiana, 2002)

Tourn, Sara, 'Bonaventura Mazzarella', Dizionario biografico dei Protestanti in Italia, online, https://www.studivaldesi.org/dizionario/evan_det.php?evan_id=122.