ZOLLI, EUGENIO

Semitic scholar, chief Rabbi of Rome, and convert to Catholicism; b. Brody, Austrian Galicia, Sept. 17, 1881; d. Rome, March 2, 1956. His original name was Israel Zoller. After graduating from the University of Florence and the Rabbinical College of that city, he became chief Rabbi of Trieste in 1914, where he changed his name to Zolli. From 1930 to 1938 he taught Hebrew at the University of Padua and in 1940 advanced to the post of chief Rabbi of Rome. When the German army occupied Rome in September 1943, Zolli in vain advised the Jewish community to disperse. Not sharing the optimism of other leaders and under pressure from friends, he himself went into hiding, where he remained effectively active, satisfying, with financial assistance from the Vatican, the ransom that the Germans demanded from the Roman Jews. On Feb. 13, 1945, after Italy had been liberated, Zolli entered the Catholic Church. His conversion attracted international interest, and some of his former coreligionists attributed it to base motives [see L. I. Newman, A "Chief Rabbi" of Rome Becomes a Catholic: a Study in Fright and Spite (New York 1945)]. Zolli's baptism, however, was clearly an ultimate result of his ardent interest, evident in his earlier writings, in Jesus Christ. The charity of Pope Pius XII, whose baptismal name he chose, contributed much to his conversion. From 1945 almost until his death he taught Semitics at the University of Rome and the Pontifical Biblical Institute. Best known among Zolli's numerous writings are Il Nazareno [(Udine 1938), in English translation, The Nazarene, tr. C. Vollert (St. Louis 1950)] and Before the Dawn: Auto-biographical Reflections (New York 1954).

Bibliography: Biblica 37 (1956) 261–262. a. mercati and a. pelzer, Dizionario ecclesiastico 3:1405–06.

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