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, already begun by others and not continued at Rome. Elected librarian of the duke of Modena, he thought of publishing the unpublished work of Agnellus of Ravenna, Liber Pontificalis seu vitae Pontificum Ravennatum; but his preparatory studies persuaded him to have another, more general work precede it, De ecclesiasticae hierarchiae originibus dissertatio (Modena 1703), in which, after having spoken of the government of the Roman empire and that of the Jews at the time of Jesus Christ, he treats of the origins of the Italian metropolises and in particular that of Ravenna. The work, dense with erudition, aroused wonder and strong opposition, because B. therein maintains the fundamental thesis of the absolute initial distinction of ecclesiastical government from civil government, and he had to defend it with ardor, supported by cardinals G. A. Tommasi and D. Ferrari. The Liber Pontificalis of Agnellus came out at Modena in 1708, enriched with dissertations, notes and appendices; reprinted a little later by Muratori in Rerum Ital. Script., II, Milan 1733, pp. 1-220. An ample catalogue of B.'s life and of his many other published and unpublished works is given by Mazzucchelli, II, 1, pp. 8-11, and by I. Affo, Memorie degli scrittori e letterati Parmigiani, V, Parma 1797, pp. 345-420, and by A. Pezzana, in Continuazione delle Memorie degli scrittori e letterati Parmigiani, vol. I of the Appendix, ibid. 1825, pp. 864-908.
Bibliography2 works
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