Francesco Antonio Zaccaria (March 27, 1714 – October 10, 1795) was an Italian

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, and prolific writer.

Biography

Francesco Antonio Zaccaria was born in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. His father, Tancredi, was a noted

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

. He joined the Austrian province of the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

on 18 October 1731. Zaccaria taught

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

, the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

, and

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

in the College of

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

, and was ordained

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

at Rome in 1740. He spent some time in pastoral work in

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

Fermo Fermo (; ancient: Firmum Picenum) is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche, Italy, in the Province of Fermo. Fermo is on a hill, the Sabulo, elevation , on a branch from Porto San Giorgio on the Adriatic coast railway. History The oldest huma ...

, and

Pistoia Pistoia (; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about north-west of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typic ...

, gaining renown as a preacher and controversial lecturer. In 1751 he succeeded Muratori as ducal archivist and librarian of

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 ...

, but was removed in 1768, owing to his ''Antifebronio'', in which he strenuously defended the rights of the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. He was then appointed librarian at the Jesuit

professed house In the Society of Jesus, a professed house was a residence where—in a spirit of radical poverty—no member had a stable income. The Jesuit priests who lived there, all of whom have made the profession of the four vows, undertake their spiritua ...

in Rome.

Clement XIII Pope Clement XIII (; ; 7 March 1693 – 2 February 1769), born Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 July 1758 to his death in February 1769. He was installed on 16 July 1758. ...

allowed him an annual pension, continued under

Clement XIV Pope Clement XIV (; ; 31 October 1705 – 22 September 1774), born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 May 1769 to his death in September 1774. At the time of his elec ...

, and increased by

Pius VI Pope Pius VI (; born Count Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio called Giovanni Angelo or Giannangelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to hi ...

, who appointed him professor of

church history Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of t ...

at the Sapienza and director of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. He was a member of at least 19 Italian academies. He died in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, aged 81.

Works

Of the 161 printed works ascribed to him by

Sommervogel Carlos Sommervogel (8 January 1834 – 4 March 1902) was a French Jesuit scholar. He was author of the monumental ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', which served as one of the major references for the editors of the Catholic Encyclo ...

the following are the most important.

Church history

*''Series episcoporum Cremonensium'' (Milan, 1749) *''Laudensium'' (ibid., 1763) *''Auximatium'' (Osimo, 1764) *''Vico Aequensium'' (Rome, 1778) *''Caesenatium'' (Cesena, 1779) *''Forocorneliensium'' (Imola, 1820) *''De' santi martiri Fedele, Capoforo, Gratiniano, e Felino'' (Milan, 1750) *''Acta SS. Bollandiana apologeticis libris in unum volumen nunc primum contractis vindicata'' (Antwerp, 1755) *''De rebus ad historiam atque antigitates ecclesiae pertinentibus'' (Foligno, 1781) *''Raccolta di dissertazioni di storia ecclesiastica'' (22 vols., Rome, 1792-7). *''Istoria del Concilio di Trento'' (Faenza, 1797-7)

Theology and canon law

*''Thesaurus theologicus'' (13 vols., Venice, 1762) - a compilation of theological treatises by various authors, arranged so as to form an orderly exposition of the different topics of theology *''De casuisticae theologicae originibus, locis atque praestantia'', written at the instance of St. Alphonsus Liguori and prefixed to the third edition of the latter's ''Moral Theology'' *''Apparatus omnigenae eruditionis ad theologiam et jus canonicum'' (Rome, 1773)

Polemics

*''Antifebronio'' (Pesaro, 1767), Latin edition (Cesena, 1771-2 and in Migne, ''Theol. Cursus Completus'', XXVII, 463-1300) *''Storia polemica del celibato sacro'' (Rome, 1774), German translation by Pius John (1783) *''Storia polemica delle proibizione de' libri'' (Rome, 1777) *''Difesa di tre Sommi Pontefici Benedetto XIII, Benedetto XIV, e Clemente XIII, e del Concilio Romano tenuto nel 1775'' (Ravenna, 1784) *''Comandi chi può, ubbidisca chi dee'' (Faenza, 1788)

Liturgy

*''Dell'anno santo'' (Rome, 1774) *''Bibliotheca ritualis'' (2 vols., Rome, 1776-8) *''Nuovo effemerologio universale'' (Rome, 1780) *''Onomasticon rituale selectum'' (Faenza, 1787)

Archaeology

*''istituzione antiquario-lapidaria'' (Rome, 1770) *''Istituzione antiquario-numismatica'' (Rome, 1772)

Literary history

*''Storia Letteraria d'Italia'' (14 vols., Modena, 1750–57) - a literary review edited by Zaccaria with the assistance of Leonardo Ximenes, Domenico Troili, and Gioacchino Gabardi *''Excursus litterarii per Italiam'' (Venice, 1754) *''Iter Litterarium per Italiam'' (Venice, 1762) *''Saggio critico della corrente letteratura straniera'' (3 vols., Modena, 1576), written by Zaccaria, with Gabardi and Troili *''Annali letterarii d'Italia'' (3 vols., Modena, 1762-3) *''Biblioteca antica e moderna di storia letteraria'' (3 vols., Pesaro, 1766-8)

Annotated editions

*Joannes Stephanus Menochius (the

jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Giovanni Stefano Menochio Giovanni Stefano Menochio (9 December 15754 February 1655) was an Italian Jesuit biblical scholar. Life Menochio was born at Padua, and entered the Society of Jesus on 25 May 1594. After the usual years of training and teaching the classics, ...

), ''Commentarius totius s. Scripturae'' (Venice, 1743) *

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

, ''La Divina Comedia'' (Verona, 1749) * Tamburini, ''Theologia Moralis'' (Venice, 1755) * Busenbaum and Lacroix, ''Theologia Moralis'' (1755) * Domenico Viva, ''Opuscula omnia theologico-moralia'' (Ferrara, 1757) * Louis Abelly, ''Medulla theologica'' (Venice, 1757) * Petavius, ''Opus de theologicis dogmatibus'' (Venice, 1757) * Vitus Pichler, ''Jus Canonicum'' (Pesaro, 1758) * Jacobus Tirinus (Jacques Tirin), ''In universam Scripturam Commentarius'' (Venice, 1759) * Bartolomeo Gavanto, ''Opera theologico-canonica'' (Ferrara, 1760) * Honoré Tournély, ''Praelectiones'' (Venice, 1765) * Alexander Natalis, ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' (Venice, 1776-7) *

Lucius Ferraris Lucius Ferraris (18 April 1687 – 24 February 1763) was an Italian Franciscan canonist of the 18th century. He was born at Solero, near Alessandria in Northern Italy. He was also professor, provincial of his order, and consultor of the Holy Offi ...

, ''Bibliotheca canonicojuridica'' (Rome, 1748–90) * Francesco Sforza Pallavicino, ''Istoria del Concilio di Trento'' (Faenza, 1792-7)

References

Bibliography

* * Carlos Sommervogel et al., ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', 11 v. (Brussels–Paris 1890–1932; v. 12, suppl. 1960) 8:1381–1435. *

Hugo von Hurter The von Hurter family belonged to the Swiss nobility; in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries three of them were known for their conversions to Roman Catholicism, their ecclesiastical careers in Austria and their theological writings. Friedric ...

, ''Nomenclator literarius theologiae catholicae'', 5 v. in 6 (3d ed. Innsbruck 1903–13); v. 1 (4th ed. 1926) 5.1:484–498. * * *