Anthony F. Ciampi


Anthony F. Ciampi was an Italian-American priest of the Catholic Church and member of the Society of Jesus.

Early life

Anthony Ciampi was born as Antonio F. Ciampi on January 29, 1816 in Rome. He hailed from a prominent family, which included Ciampi's uncle, Cardinal Giuseppe Sala. He was educated at the Pontifical Gregorian University, before entering the Jesuit novitiate at Sant'Andrea al Quirinale in Rome on September 7, 1832. Following his philosophical studies at the Gregoriana, he was assigned to a Jesuit school in Piacenza, where he taught grammar from 1839 to 1840, and then at a school in Ferrara, where he taught grammar and the humanities from 1840 to 1844. In 1845, he returned to Rome to study theology for one year.
Ciampi was then invited by the president of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, Fr. James A. Ryder, to join the American Jesuits; Ciampi accepted and immigrated to the United States. He continued his studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he was ordained a priest on July 23, 1848.

College of the Holy Cross

First presidency

Ciampi was appointed the President of the College of the Holy Cross on August 28, 1851. Within a year of his appointment, on July 14, 1852, a devastating fire consumed the entire college building, except for its east wing and library, despite the efforts of the fire department and local citizens of Worcester to haul water a quarter of a mile up the hill from the river. The student dormitories with their possessions were lost, and the uninsured college faced a cost of $50,000. The fire was believed to have begun on the third floor by a professor who was burning old examination papers. Left without any place to stay, the neighbors offered lodging to the faculty and students. Within a few months, work began on rebuilding the school using the contributions of donors throughout the Diocese of Boston. A new and larger building was opened on October 3, 1853.

Death

Ciampi died on November 24, 1893 in Washington, D.C. and was buried in the Jesuit Community Cemetery at Georgetown.