Odorico Raynaldi or Rinaldi (; 20 June 1594 – 22 January 1671), also known as Raynald, was an Italian historian and Oratorian.

Biography

Raynaldi was born at

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

of a patrician family and studied at

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

and

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 ...

. He joined the Oratorians in Rome, where he was twice elected superior-general of his congregation. He was offered the direction of the

Vatican library The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...

by Innocent X, but declined the position. He died at

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, ...

on 22 January 1671. Raynaldi's major work was the continuation of the ''

Annales Ecclesiastici (full title ; "Ecclesiastical annals from Christ's nativity to 1198"), consisting of twelve folio volumes, is a history of the first 12 centuries of the Christian Church, written by Caesar Baronius and Odorico Raynaldi and published betwee ...

'' of

Baronius Cesare Baronio, C.O. (as an author also known as Caesar Baronius; 30 August 1538 – 30 June 1607) was an Italian Oratorian, cardinal and historian of the Catholic Church. His best-known works are his ''Annales Ecclesiastici'' ("Ecclesiast ...

, extending it from 1198 to 1565 and including reproductions of numerous original documents. This was published at Rome, 1646-77; he also published excerpts in Latin and Italian both from the work of Baronius and his own continuation of it. The

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

criticizes his work for "inaccurate chronological data and lack of criticism", while valuing the primary sources reproduced in it.

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raynaldi, Odorico 1595 births 1671 deaths 17th-century Italian historians Italian male non-fiction writers 17th-century Italian male writers Oratorians Historians of the Catholic Church