Sanfedistn.adj.

1842 F. W. Faber Foreign Churches ii. 268 It has been asserted..that among the higher orders of society in the Papal States another party has been formed, which includes within itself a few of the princes of the Church and affords some disquiet to the Austrian embassy at Rome. The members of this society call themselves Sanfedists. It is indeed but a revival of old Guelphic principles... The Sanfedists are said to have arisen in 1780 as an anti-Austrian party at Turin, Gregory VII, and Sixtus V, being the great objects of their admiration.

1881 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 486/1 In a short while, the Carbonari societies, with Sanfedisti and many other revolutionary associations, had extended their organization through the length and breadth of the peninsula.

1920 J. P. Trevelyan Short Hist. Ital. People xxvii. 475 During the reign of..Leo XII..Romagna was ravaged by the blood feuds of Carbonari and Sanfedisti.

1960 E. E. Y. Hales Revol. & Papacy vii. 123 The most interesting..Sanfedist leader was Cardinal Ruffo.

1960 E. E. Y. Hales Revol. & Papacy xvi. 264 During Leo's..reign—he died on February 10, 1829—the discontent in the Papal States..grew more serious. The policy of using the Sanfedists..was now encouraged from Rome, with a view to suppressing..the secret societies.

1965 C. Hibbert Garibaldi & his Enemies i. iv. 48 At Ancona twenty-eight Sanfedisti, murderous anti-liberals who acted in the name of the faith, were assassinated.