Marcello Papiniano Cusani

Marcello Papiniano Cusani was born in Frasso Telesino on February 17, 1690 to Antonio Cusani and Antonietta Rainone. The Cusani family had already given birth to notable people, namely Biagio Cusani, poet and professor of law in Naples[3] and Gennaro Cusani (uncle of Marcello) who was also professor of law.[1] After receiving the basic education, he went to Naples, where he studied law under the guidance of his uncle Gennaro and Basilio Giannelli.[4]

At that time, Marcello was influenced by the ideas of his uncle (who was both against the Jesuits and the Spanish rule) and by the Neapolitan cultural environment of that period. He was influenced by the Congregazione dei padri pii operai and their leader father Torres (an enlightened clergyman), in 1709 he decided to start an ecclesiastical career, animated by the desire to renew the Church, and on 10 June 1713 he became priest.[1]

Starting from 1720, his career began to take off. Initially he was entrusted with the task of "substitute for the old Digest" in the University of Naples. In 1723, he also won the contest for the chairs of civil and canon law, and thus he was appointed professor of both of them. He also accepted the offer to teach civil law at the University of Turin and in 1724 he moved to Turin. He remained there until 1730, when the new king, Charles Emmanuel III imposed restrictions on the freedom of teaching and religion.

In 1730, he left Turin and went to Vienna urged by his longtime friend Pietro Giannone, who was in that period was in Vienna. After a few years, however, Cusani decided to return to Naples, where he became a teacher of law and ecclesiastical history at the University of Naples, where he had, among his students, Ferdinando Galiani, Giuseppe Palmieri and Antonio Genovesi.[1][5]

In 1746, Cusani was appointed archpriest of Altamura Cathedral and, there he carried out reforms in the spirit of the so-called giannonism (based on the ideas of Pietro Giannone), aimed at affirming the king's privileges over those of the clergy. He developed works of reform of the clergy and, above all, he had the idea of establishing a university of studies in the city, using the revenues of the so-called Monte a Moltiplico.

The collection of funds had already begun a century before, in 1640, but for a different purpose, that is to transform the arciprelatura nullius of Altamura into a bishopric, perhaps in order to be stronger against the claims of the nearby bishopric of Gravina.[6] Cusani's idea was to use the savings of Monte a Moltiplico in order to establish a university and guarantee a public and royal (not led by the church) education. The idea pleased the then king of Naples, Charles III of Spain, who was interested in limiting the dominance of the Church in the education of the youths.[2]

Marcello Papiniano Cusani was the founder of the University of Altamura, implementing the incorporation of the two functions of rector and archpriest of Altamura Cathedral in the same person. This feature of dual office remained for the entire life of the university. The first to become both rector of the university and archpriest of the cathedral was Cusani himself, who was also a teacher of law therein; from 1747 to 1752, he directed both the university and the cathedral but, following disagreements with the local clergy, he decided to leave the city asking Galiani to allow him to "leave".[7][1] The university he founded remained open until the beginning of the XIX century.

On March 3, 1753, Cusani was consecrated bishop in Rome and later became archbishop of Otranto. The office of archbishop of Otranto lasted only a few months, since on 27 February 1754 Charles III of Spain chose him for the position of archbishop of Palermo. According to some sources, he left Otranto on 11 February 1754.[8]

In Palermo, unlike Altamura, Cusani enjoyed greater power, by virtue of his office as archbishop, and this made the reforms he adopted more incisive, aimed at asserting the supremacy of the sovereign over feudal local power. Moreover, from a purely cultural point of view, he reformed juridical and philosophical studies in order to reduce the dominance of the Jesuits and, in addition, he contributed to spread the ideas of John Locke.[1]

Elderly and affected by blindness, on July 16, 1762 Cusani resigned from the archdiocese of Palermo and returned to Naples. There, he was welcomed by his friend Ignazio Della Croce, general of the Augustinians. Cusani joined the order of the Augustinians and remained there until 1766, the year of his death. The exact date of his death is unknown.[9] His remains were buried in the Church of Santa Maria della Verità.[1]