Gavazzi, Alessandro

Gavazzi, Alessandro (älĕs-sän`drō gävät`tsē), 1809–89, Italian preacher and patriot. A Barnabite monk, he left the order in 1848. His liberal ideas and disillusionment with the social order in Italy led him to emigrate from the Papal States to London, where he joined the Italian Protestant community and led an antipapal campaign. Upon his return to Italy (1859) he was twice Giuseppe Garibaldi's army chaplain (1860, 1866). Later he organized in Rome the Free Christian Church in Italy, also known as the Evangelical Church in Italy.