ANNALI ECCLESIASTICI. - A weekly review of a religious-literary character, founded by Mons. Scipione de' Ricci, bishop of Pistoia, and published in Florence from 2 June 1780 to 1792.
Of a distinctly Jansenist and reformist tendency, modelled on the Nouvelles ecclésiastiques (v.) of Paris, it disseminated among educated persons the gravest errors against Catholic doctrine, vigorously defended the dissident Church of Utrecht, published translations of works condemned by the Church, extolled libellous writings, and did not refrain from calumnies and base insinuations against the Jesuits. Its tone was so forceful and its spirit so combative that, notwithstanding the enthusiasm and chorus of praise it aroused even in France, where articles from the A. appeared translated in the Nouvelles ecclésiastiques, serious apprehensions were not lacking among de' Ricci's own friends. Thus Mons. Giovanni Bernardino Pecci, in a memorandum to Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, described the A. as “an abomination to Catholic minds and an affliction to the entire Church” (Pastor, XVI, part III, p. 109).
The annual volumes of the A. for 1780-1782 were condemned and placed on the Index by decrees of 3 Dec. 1781 and 8 July 1782.