Roberto Ranieri Costaguti From Pulpit to Chair to Bishop's See

Roberto Ranieri Costaguti lived through one of Italy’s most turbulent periods, experiencing political, religious and social movements. Mgr. Costaguti was one of the most gifted homilists of his time. His reputation among his contemporaries, as a talented and erudite preacher, whose delivery was often direct and eloquent, attracted many invitations to preach at various places in Italy and abroad. Costaguti had also been repeatedly requested to preach in Malta. He must have impressed Grandmaster Pinto because the latter had no hesitation in appointing him Rector of his newly founded University. His stay in Malta as Rector was a brief but fruitful one. He thus played a pivotal role in shaping Malta’s educational institutions. Soon after his return to Italy, following the termination of his appointment as Rector, Roberto Costaguti was consecrated Bishop of Sansepolcro. This Tuscan bishop later witnessed the Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802) which saw the invasion and occupation of the Italian States, including the Papal ones, by Napoleon. He learnt of the arrest of Pope Pius VI, who died in exile in France in 1799. During the French interregnum he, at times, stood his ground and even refused to accept the Legion d’Honneur offered to him by the French Emperor.