MARCANTONIO BOLDETTI. — Archaeologist, b. in Rome in 1663, d. there in 1749. Canon of S. Maria in Trastevere, a man of great piety, he was for 49 years Custodian of relics and cemeteries, taking part in a very large number of excavations, carried out solely to extract relics of martyrs, not for scientific purposes. Although no care was taken of the excavated galleries and everything removable was removed, he nevertheless kept an exact record of noteworthy things that came to light.
A very rich collection of these, especially inscriptions, he published in the volume: *Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri dei martiri ed antichi cristiani di Roma, aggiuntivi la serie di tutti quelli che fino al presente si sono scoperti e di altri simili che in varie parti del mondo si trovano, con riflessioni pratiche sopra il culto delle sacre reliquie* (Rome 1720), in which is also found the first description of all the catacombs then known in Italy. He continued to gather further material afterwards with his friend Marangoni (q.v.), but the fire in their common house in 1737 destroyed everything and broke the old man’s strength, so that he abandoned the work to Marangoni. Boldetti was too ready to see martyrs everywhere, and in his work he proceeded more with apologetic intent than with scientific method; but these were defects of the age. If he did not better provide for the preservation of the cemeteries, it was because at that time they were considered only as quarries of holy bodies and not as archaeological monuments. The carelessness with which he published the inscriptions is largely the fault of the printer; for the paintings he is no less deserving than Bosio. To him is owed the discovery and identification of the catacomb of Commodilla and that of Trastevere.