Achilli, Giovanni Giacinto
Achilli, Giovanni Giacinto
Apostate priest, born Viterbo, Italy , 1803 . He was suspended by ecclesiastical authorities for immorality, and later imprisoned by the pontifical government for revolutionary agitation. He gave anti-Catholic lectures in London ; exposed by J. H. Newman (afterwards cardinal ) he brought a libel action in 1852 , in which Newman was fined 100, owing to the anti-Catholic prejudices of the judges. Achilli afterwards became utterly discredited (Ward, “Life of Newman”), and the incident caused a revulsion in favor of Newman.