Luigi Gaetano Marini (18 December 1742 – 7 May 1815) was an Italian
natural philosopher
Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior throu ...
, jurist,
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 race; as well as the stu ...
,
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
and
epigraphist
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
.
Biography
Marini was born in
Sant'Arcangelo
Sant'Arcangelo is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata
it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, ...
(pagus Acerbotanus). Having received a comprehensive preparatory education at the College of
San Marino
San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...
and at the
seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
at
Rimini
Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...
, he passed through the legal and philological studies at
Bologna University
The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...
brilliantly and graduated at
Ravenna
Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...
''in utroque jure'' (in both branches of law). He went to Rome in December 1764, where he gained the friendship of Cardinal
Alessandro Albani
Alessandro Albani (15 October 1692 – 11 December 1779) was a Roman Catholic cardinal, but should be best remembered as a leading collector of antiquities, dealer and art patron in Rome. He supported the art historian, Johann Joachim Winckelmann ...
and
Giuseppe Garampi
Giuseppe Garampi (29 October 1725 – 4 May 1792) was an Italian scholar and collector of documents and books.
Biography
He was born in Rimini, the son of Count Lorenzo Garampi, a patrician of the city of Rimini. As a youth he studied in Rimini u ...
. He entered into relations with the most distinguished scholars of his day and maintained an extensive correspondence with them. In 1772 he was appointed coadjutor to Marino Zampini, prefect of the archives and the Roman Republic gave him the position of prefect of the archives at the
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum
The Holy See
* The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
and the
Castel Sant'Angelo
The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant'Angelo (; English: ''Castle of the Holy Angel''), is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausol ...
, as well as that of president of the Vatican Museum and the Vatican Library. On 18 August 1800,
Pius VII
Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...
made him ''primus custos'' of the Vatican Library and also prefect of the archives. In January, 1805, he was made a cameriere d'onore to the pope.
When the archives of the
Roman Curia were seized and transferred to Paris by
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, he accompanied them, reaching Paris on 11 April 1810. After Napoleon's fall, the
Count of Artois
The count of Artois (French: Comtes d'Artois, Dutch: Graven van Artesië) was the ruler over the County of Artois from the 9th century until the abolition of the countship by the French revolutionaries in 1790.
House of Artois
*Odalric (c. 850s) ...
, vice-regent and brother of the king, issued a decree on 9 April 1814 directing the restitution of the archives, of all documents and Manuscripts, and of several other collections to the
Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
. On 28 April the papal commissioners, de Gregorio, Gaetano Marini, and his nephew Marino Marini, took charge of the whole of this property, but before they reached Rome Gaetano Marini, who had long been an invalid, died in Paris on 7 May 1815.
He was master of
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
,
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, and
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, possessed great legal knowledge, and took up questions of natural philosophy. His great work on
papyrus
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...
records is a standard work on the investigation of papyri. His book on the
Arval Brethren
In ancient Roman religion, the Arval Brethren ( la, Fratres Arvales, "Brothers of the Fields") or Arval Brothers were a body of priests who offered annual sacrifices to the Lares and gods to guarantee good harvests. Inscriptions provide eviden ...
of ancient Rome brought to light so much that was new, and its appearance created a stir. His classification of five thousand inscriptions, both Christian and heathen, in the Galleria Lapidaria at the Vatican, earned for him the honorary title of "Restorer" of Latin epigraphics. Marini was a cleric, but not a priest. He often prayed for hours before the
Blessed Sacrament
The Blessed Sacrament, also Most Blessed Sacrament, is a devotional name to refer to the body and blood of Christ in the form of consecrated sacramental bread and wine at a celebration of the Eucharist. The term is used in the Latin Church of the ...
, and went to communion three times a week. During his residence in Paris and living as an invalid, he gave away alms to the extent of 3000
scudi
The ''scudo'' (pl. ''scudi'') was the name for a number of coins used in various states in the Italian peninsula until the 19th century. The name, like that of the French écu and the Spanish and Portuguese escudo, was derived from the Latin ''scu ...
(dollars), a significant valuation at the time and for his situation.
Works
Principal works:
* ''Degli Archiatri Pontifici'', 1784
vol. 1vol. 2* ''Gli atti e monumenti de' fratelli Arvali'', 1795.
* ''Iscrizioni antiche doliari'' (written between 1798 and 1799, published in 1884 by
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 Cam ...
)
* ''I papiri diplomatici'', 1805.
* ''Memorie istoriche degli Archivi''... (posthumous)
Notes and References
;Attribution
* Cites sources:
**MARINO MARINI. ''Degli. Aneddoti di Gaetano Marini: Commentario di suo nipote'' (Rome, 1822);
**
MORONI, ''Dizionarzo di Erudizione Storico-Ecclesiatica'', IV, 286;
**MARINO MARINI, ''Memorie Storiche dell' occupazione e restitutione degli Archivii della S. Sede e del riacquisto de' Codici e Museo Numismatico del Vaticano e de' Manoscritti e parte del Museo di Storia Naturale di Bologna'' (Rome, 1885)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marini, Luigi
1742 births
1815 deaths
18th-century Italian historians
Italian archaeologists
Epigraphers
19th-century Italian historians