BACCHINI, BENEDETTO. - Benedictine and distinguished historian, b. at Borgo S. Donnino on 31 Aug. 1631, d. at Bologna on 1 Sept. 1721.
His first literary activity was directed toward continuing (1686–90) the publication of the Giornale de' Letterati d'Italia, previously begun by others and not continued at Rome. Appointed librarian to the duke of Modena, he planned to publish the unpublished work of Agnello di Ravenna, Liber Pontificalis seu vitae Pontificum Ravennatum; but his preparatory studies persuaded him first to issue another, more general work, De ecclesiasticae hierarchiae originibus dissertatio (Modena 1703), in which, after discussing the government of the Roman Empire and that of the Jews in the time of Jesus Christ, he treats of the origins of the Italian metropolises, and in particular that of Ravenna. The work, rich in learning, aroused astonishment and strong opposition, because B. maintained in it the fundamental thesis of the absolute initial distinction between ecclesiastical and civil government; he had to defend it vigorously, supported by cardinals G. A. Tommasi and D. Ferrari. Agnello’s Liber Pontificalis appeared at Modena in 1708, enriched with dissertations, notes, and appendices; it was reproduced shortly afterwards by Muratori in Rerum Ital. Script., II, Milan 1733, pp. 1–220. An extensive account of B.’s life and a catalogue of his many other published and unpublished works are provided by Mazzucchelli, II, 1, pp. 8–11, and by I. Affo, Memorie degli scrittori e letterati Parmigiani, V, Parma 1797, pp. 345–420, and A. Pezzana, in Continuazione delle Memorie degli scrittori e letterati Parmigiani, vol. I of the App., ibid. 1825, pp. 864–908.