BOERO, GIUSEPPE. — Hagiographer and Jesuit historian, b. at Ventimiglia on 15 Aug. 1814, d. at Rome on 8 Feb. 1884. After theological studies, he was attached to the general curia of his Order as archivist and general postulator, later (1876–83) as assistant for the Italian provinces. In 1870 he attended the Vatican Council as theologian to Mgr. Miège, missionary bishop of the United States.
An indefatigable writer, Boero made the most of the opportunities offered by his duties as archivist and postulator. In his 84 publications, the style may be somewhat mannered and uniform, and his criticism at times too hasty, but his documentation is first-hand. He first produced a long series of biographies based on the acts of beatification processes: *Vita del ven. p. Bernardino Realino* (Rome 1852); *Istoria della vita del V. p. Giuseppe M. Pignatelli* (ibid. 1856); *Vita del p. Pietro Canisio* (ibid. 1864), etc. He also supervised the reprinting, with more or less revision, of classic hagiographical works by Fathers Cepari, Ribadeneira, Bartoli, and Spinola. In his later years (1874–80) he published a series of biographical sketches on the first companions of St. Ignatius: Bl. Peter Faber, Fathers Lainez, Salmerón, Le Jay, Broët, Bobadilla, and Rodríguez. From the archives of the Society, he extracted and brought to light unpublished documents and works by Paolo Segneri, St. B. Realino, and Bartoli. He was entrusted with the official reprint of the *Instituttum Societatis Jesu* (3 vols., Rome 1869–70). Boero also intervened in two historical controversies with apologetic works in defense of the Society: *Sentimenti e fatti del p. Silvestro Pietrasanta in difesa di s. Giuseppe Calasanzio e dell'Ordine delle scuole pie* (ibid. 1847, French tr. by Fr. Grandidier) against Canon Timon David of Marseilles, and *Osservazioni sopra l'istoria del pontificato di Clemente XIV scritta dal p. A. Theiner, prete dell'Oratorio* (Modena 1853; 2nd ed., 2 vols., ibid. 1854).