BOLDETTI, MARCANTONIO. - 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 the relics and of the cemeteries, taking part in a very great number of excavations, carried out solely to extract relics of martyrs, not for scientific purposes. Although no care was taken of the galleries that were dug and everything that could be removed was carried off, he nevertheless kept an exact record of the notable things that came to light.
A very rich collection of these, especially epitaphs, he published in the volume: Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri dei martiri ed antichi cristiani di Roma, aggiuntavi 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 there is also found the first description of all the catacombs then known in Italy. He continued thereafter to gather other material with his friend Marangoni (v.), but the fire of their common house in 1737 destroyed everything and sapped the strength of the old man, who abandoned the work to Marangoni. B. was too ready to see martyrs everywhere, and in his work he proceeds with apologetic aims rather than with scientific method; but these were defects of the age; if he did not better provide for the preservation of the cemeteries it is because at that time they were considered only as quarries of holy bodies and not as archaeological monuments. The carelessness with which he publishes the epitaphs is to a great extent the fault of the printer; as regards the paintings he is no less valuable than Bosio. To him is due the discovery and identification of the catacomb of Commodilla and that of Thraso.
Bibliography4 works
Antonio Ferrua