BIANCHINI, GIUSEPPE. - Historian and archaeologist, born at Verona on 9 September 1704, died at Rome on 13 October 1764. In 1732 he entered the Congregation of the Oratory in Rome, where Benedetto XIV appointed him secretary of the Academy of Ecclesiastical History, which he had founded in 1740. Clemente XII had already entrusted him with continuing Baronio’s Annales ecclesiastici. Through his works he acquired wide renown in Italy and abroad.
Noteworthy among his works on the Latin biblical texts are: Vindiciae canonicarum Scripturarum Vulgatae latinae editionis (Rome 1740), in defence of the Vulgate; Evangeliarum quadruplex latinae versionis antiquae (ibid. 1740). In the field of history he completed the edition of Anastasio Bibliotecario’s De gestis Romanorum Pontificum (ibid. 1735), begun by his uncle Francesco; Methodus historiae ecclesiasticae quadripartitae (ibid. 1746); Historia chalcographica septendecini annorum jubilaei (ibid. 1750); Demonstratio historiae ecclesiasticae (ibid. 1754). In the field of archaeology he published: Liturgia antiqua (ibid. 1746); Paccolta de' più illustri pezzi d'antichità sacre di Roma (ibid. 1746); Delle magnificenze di Roma antica e moderna (ibid. 1747). He also left many manuscript works, including studies on the prophets, the Psalter, and the Song of Songs.