Pietro Balan (September 3, 1840 – 1893) was an Italian Catholic journalist and historian. He used newly opened

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

archive material to write about

the Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

Life

He was born at

Este, Veneto Este () is a town and ''comune'' of the Province of Padua, in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Colli Euganei, Euganean Hills. The town is a centre for farming, crafts and industry worthy of note. History Est ...

on 3 September 1840, and was educated in the seminary at

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

, where he was appointed professor in 1862. He was director of the Venetian journal ''La Libertà Cattolica'' in 1865, and of the

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

journal ''Diritto Cattolico'' in 1867. In 1879 he became subarchivist of the Vatican, but retired (or was dismissed) on a pretext of poor health four years later, moving to Pragatto in the province of Bologna. He was nominated chamberlain by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

in 1881, and domestic prelate in the following year; in 1883 he was appointed referendary of the Papal ''segnatura'', and was also created a commander of the

Order of Franz Joseph The Imperial Austrian Order of Franz Joseph () was founded by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria on 2 December 1849, on the first anniversary of his accession to the imperial throne. Classes The order was originally awarded in three classes: ''G ...

.''The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge''
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Works (incomplete list)

* ''Monumenta reformationis Lutheranæ'' (Ratisbon, 1883–4). * ''Fra Paolo Sarpi'' (Venice, 1887)

References

;Attribution

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balan, Pietro 1840 births 1893 deaths People from the Province of Padua Italian historians of religion 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests 19th-century Italian historians