BENCI, FRANCESCO. — One of the finest humanists of the Society of Jesus in the sixteenth century, born at Acquapendente in 1542 (his baptismal name was Plautus), died in Rome on 6 May 1595. A disciple of Antonio Muret and a correspondent of Lipsius, he entered the novitiate in Rome in 1570 and was subsequently assigned to teach rhetoric in Siena, Perugia, and chiefly Rome.
His works, all in Latin, include funeral orations, school tragedies, an epic poem: Quinque
Martyres (Venice 1591, in honor of Fr. Rodolfo Acquaviva and his companions), and occasional poetry. There were numerous editions of his Carminum libri quattuor (Rome 1591), Orationes XXII (ibid. 1590), and Orationes et carmina (ibid. 1592). B. was also the compiler of the Litterae annuae of the Society of Jesus from 1586 to 1591 (ibid. 1589–94).