Giuseppe Cozza-Luzi (24 December 1837 – 1 June 1905) was an Italian savant and abbot of the Basilian monastery of

Grottaferrata Grottaferrata () is a small town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, situated on the lower slopes of the Alban Hills, south east of Rome. It has grown up around the Abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata, founded in 1004. Nearby comm ...

near Rome.

Biography

Cozza-Luzi was born in 1837 at Bolsena in the

Province of Rome The Province of Rome ( it, Provincia di Roma) was one of the five provinces that formed part of the region of Lazio in Italy. It was established in 1870 and disestablished in 2014. It was essentially coterminous with the Rome metropolitan area. ...

. In early youth he entered the ancient monastery of which he became abbot in 1882.

Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

was attracted by his scholarship, as was later

Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-ol ...

. In 1898 he was freed from all official cares and devoted himself to his beloved studies. He won distinction by his edition of several ancient

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 ...

manuscripts and was also learned in the history of art and in archaeology. He died in Rome on 1 June 1905.

Works

Under his direction the phototype edition of the

Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209 The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

was executed, (Vetus et Novum Testamentum e Cod. Vaticano 1209 phototyp., 5 volumes fol., Rome, 1889), also a Vatican codex of the prophets (ibid., 1889), and from a Vatican manuscript the miniatures of

Giulio Clovio Giorgio Giulio Clovio or Juraj Julije Klović (1498 – 5 January 1578) was an illuminator, miniaturist, and painter born in the Kingdom of Croatia, who was mostly active in Renaissance Italy. He is considered the greatest illuminator of the It ...

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ' ...

's ''Paradiso''. Nearly all the copies of these artistic publications perished at the burning of the Danesi establishment in Rome. Together with the well-known scriptural scholar

Carlo Vercellone Carlo Vercellone (10 January 181419 January 1869) was an Italian biblical scholar. Biography Carlo was born at Biella. He entered the Order of the Barnabites at Genoa, in 1829; studied philosophy at Turin and theology at Rome, under Luigi Ungare ...

, he supervised the printing of the Greek text of the Codex Vaticanus, in five volumes (Rome, 1868–81); he also edited other scriptural manuscripts, e.g. the Greek codex of Daniel in the Chigi Library at Rome. His most important scientific work was the publication of some fragments of the ''Geography'' of

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

(Rome, 1884), originally discovered by Cardinal Mai, who was unaware of their importance. We owe also to Cozza-Luzi the publication of the eighth and ninth volumes of Mai's ''Nova Bibliotheca Patrum'', and a part of the cardinal's correspondence. Among the theological treatises of Cozza-Luzi is an important study on the evidence of the Greek liturgies to the papal supremacy (De Rom. Pont. auctorit. doctrinali testim. liturg. ecclesiæ græcæ, Rome, 1870). He wrote also on the antiquities of his native Bolsena, on the cathedral of

Orvieto Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are comp ...

, the Vatican collection of Assyrian antiquities, etc. Among his more interesting publications is an edition of the Greek version of

St. Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...

's account of St. Benedict (Historia S. P. N. Benedicti a Pontif. Gregorio I descripta et a Zacharia græce reddita, Tivoli, 1880). He edited the text of

Codex Marchalianus Codex Marchalianus designated by siglum Q is a 6th-century Greek manuscript copy of the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Old Testament) known as the Septuagint. The text was written on vellum in uncial letters. Palaeographicall ...

(''Prophetarum codex Graecus Vaticanus 2125'' (Romae, 1890)). Many of his writings are scattered in various Italian periodicals, ecclesiastical and historical. Though possessed of a strong intellect and a broad culture, he often lacked scientific accuracy and it is regrettable that no organic plan dominated his numerous studious researches. In addition, he is noted as the author of some falsifications of

Giacomo Leopardi Count Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (, ; 29 June 1798 – 14 June 1837) was an Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist. He is considered the greatest Italian poet of the nineteenth century and one of ...

(edited in Rome in 1898). The falsity of the sketches was revealed by Sebastiano Timpanaro in 1966."Di alcune falsificazioni di scritti leopardiani (1966), in ''Aspetti e figure della cultura ottocentesca'', Pisa, Nistri-Lischi, 1980, pp.295-348 *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cozza-Luzi, Giuseppe Italian Roman Catholics Italian publishers (people) Italian art historians 1837 births 1905 deaths Italian antiquarians