Mariano Armellini (7 February 1852 – 24 February 1896) was an Italian archaeologist and historian. Born 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, ...

, he was one of the founders of the Pontifical Academy of Martyrs, and was named a Knight of

Order of St. Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great (; ) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of the five Papal order of knighthood, orders of knighthood of th ...

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 ...

. His father died when he was eighteen, and his mother soon after, leaving him to care for his two brothers and seven sisters. He received a degree of Doctor of Divinity from

Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...

, and was a disciple of archaeologist

Giovanni Battista de Rossi Giovanni Battista (Carlo) de Rossi (23 February 1822 – 20 September 1894) was an Italian archaeologist, famous even outside his field for rediscovering early Christian catacombs. Life and works Born in Rome, he was the son of Commendatore C ...

. He enjoyed exploring the

catacombs Catacombs are man-made underground passages primarily used for religious purposes, particularly for burial. Any chamber used as a burial place is considered a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etym ...

of Rome, where he discovered the crypt of Saint Emerentiana. He is the author of ''Gli antichi cimiteri cristiani di Roma e d'Italia'' (''The Ancient Christian Cemeteries of Rome and Italy'') and ''Le catacombe romane'' (''The Roman Catacombs''), but became famous chiefly for ''Le chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX'' (''The Churches of Rome from the 4th to the 19th Centuries''), a major work in which he recorded many of the city's churches, including those no longer extant. For twenty years he published the periodical ''Armellini's Monthly Chronicle of Archaeology and History''.

References

External links

Le chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX
(on

LacusCurtius LacusCurtius is the ancient Graeco-Roman part of a large history website, hosted as of March 2025 on a server at the University of Chicago. Starting in 1995, as of January 2004 it gave "access to more than 594 photos, 559 drawings and engravings, ...

) 1852 births 1896 deaths Archaeologists from Rome Pontifical Academy of Martyrs Knights of St. Gregory the Great {{Italy-archaeologist-stub