Francesco Antonio Zaccaria (March 27, 1714 - October 10, 1795) was an Italian theologian, historian, and prolific writer.

Biography

Francesco Antonio Zaccaria was born in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. His father, Tancredi, was a noted

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

. He joined the Austrian province of the Society of Jesus on 18 October 1731. Zaccaria taught grammar, the humanities, and

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

in the College of Gorizia, and was ordained priest at Rome in 1740. He spent some time in pastoral work in Ancona, Fermo, 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 west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typi ...

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

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) 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 I ...

, but was removed in 1768, owing to his ''Antifebronio'', in which he strenuously defended the rights of the Holy See. He was then appointed librarian at the Jesuit professed house in Rome. Clement XIII allowed him an annual pension, continued under Clement XIV, and increased by Pius VI, who appointed him professor of church history at the

Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

and director of the

Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy The Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy ( la, Pontificia Ecclesiastica Academia, it, Pontificia Accademia Ecclesiastica) is one of the Roman Colleges of the Catholic Church. The academy is dedicated to training priests to serve in the diplomatic c ...

. He was a member of at least 19 Italian academies. He died in Rome, aged 81.

Works

Of the 161 printed works ascribed to him by Sommervogel 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 Alphonsus Liguori, CSsR (27 September 1696 – 1 August 1787), sometimes called Alphonsus Maria de Liguori or Saint Alphonsus Liguori, was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosop ...

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'' (Fäenza, 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 Leonard Ximenes, Dominicus Froili, and Joachim 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 Froili *''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 , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

Giovanni Stefano Menochio Giovanni Stefano Menochio, - , 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, he became professor of sacred ...

), ''Commentarius totius s. Scripturae'' (Venice, 1743) * Dante, ''La Divina Comedia'' (Verona, 1749) * Tamburini, ''Theologia Moralis'' (Venice, 1755) *

Busenbaum Hermann Busenbaum (or Busembaum) (19 September 160031 January 1668) was a Jesuit theologian. He attained fame as a master of casuistry. Biography He was born at Nottuln in Westphalia (Germany). He entered the Jesuit order in 1619, and taught sch ...

and Lacroix, ''Theologia Moralis'' (1755) *

Domenico Viva Domenico Viva (19 October 1648 – 5 July 1726) was an Italian Jesuit theologian. Life Viva was born at Lecce, and entered the Society of Jesus 12 May 1663. He taught the humanities and Greek, nine years' philosophy, eight years moral theolog ...

, ''Opuscula omnia theologico-moralia'' (Ferrara, 1757) *

Louis Abelly Louis Abelly (1603–1691) was Vicar-General of Bayonne, a parish priest in Paris, and subsequently Bishop of Rodez in 1664. Biography In 1666 Abelly abdicated and attached himself to St. Vincent de Paul in the House of St. Lazare, Paris (Laza ...

, ''Medulla theologica'' (Venice, 1757) * Petavius, ''Opus de ulla theologica'' (Venice, 1757) * Vitus Pichler, ''Jus Canonicum'' (Pesaro, 1758) *

Jacobus Tirinus Jacobus Tirinus (1580–1636) was a Belgian Jesuit Biblical scholar. His major work is the ''Commentarius in Sacram Scripturam'', a Bible commentary in two volumes from 1645. He also published a chorography Chorography (from χῶρος ''k ...

(Jacques Tirin), ''In universam Scripturam Commentarius'' (Venice, 1759) * Bartolomeo Gavanto, ''Opera theologico-canonica'' (Ferrara, 1760) * Honoré Tournély, ''Praelectiones'' (Venice, 1765) *

Alexander Natalis Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' (Venice, 1776-7) * Lucius Ferraris, ''Bibliotheca canonicojuridica'' (Rome, 1748–90) * Francesco Sforza Pallavicino, ''Istoria del Concilio di trento'' (Faenza, 1792-7)

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