BOSIO, ANTONIO

BOSIO, Antonio. — A distinguished archaeologist, born in Malta in 1575, died in Rome in 1629. Coming young to Rome, he studied there with the Jesuits and then succeeded his uncle in the position of procurator of the Order of Malta, a role he held until his death. A friend of Ciacconio, Ugonio, De Winghe, Macario, and a disciple of St. Philip Neri, he was drawn by his own inclination to an enthusiastic study of Christian antiquities, especially the catacombs. He made his first visit to the catacomb of Domitilla with Ugonio in 1593, and progressively explored almost all the others that were accessible at the time. He did not conduct excavations but confined himself to tracing the galleries through accessible openings or lucernaria, using at most the help of a quarryman. He often brought with him a painter to depict the frescoes (Angelo Santini, known as il Toccafondo, and the names of Antonius Bosius and Angelo Toccafondo are written innumerable times on the walls of the catacombs), and above all pen and paper to diligently record what he found, proposing from the outset as his goal a systematic illustration of the ancient Christian cemeteries of the city. For this purpose, he carefully read all the writings of the Fathers, extracting what served his aim. Though he rarely succeeded in identifying the cemeteries he explored by using the index of William of Malmesbury, De Rossi was able to call him the true Columbus of subterranean Rome. Indeed, he rediscovered, explored, and at least partially described almost all the Roman catacombs; he carefully distinguished what he had learned from books from what he had seen himself; he proceeded with wise topographical order, cemetery by cemetery, attempting to identify each and reporting what the ancients had handed down about them and what could still be seen in his day. All these historical-topographical notices he accompanied with a comprehensive treatise on the ancient burials of Christians in general and especially those of Rome and the holy martyrs. This part is naturally now outdated (though the scope of the work accomplished by B. and the soundness of his method continue to command our admiration); the description of what he personally saw remains an invaluable source for the illustration of the catacombs. Such is the value of his *Roma sotterranea*, published posthumously in Rome in 1634 through the efforts SEVERIANO (v.), in a sumptuous folio adorned with numerous plans of cemeteries, sections of crypts, reproductions of paintings (he had also inherited the copies already made by De Winghe; however, these form the least accurate and weakest part of his work), and transcriptions of inscriptions that constitute the enduring value and appeal of the book. The greatness of B. is understood when one considers that his work was not surpassed, nor even significantly continued, until De Rossi (v.). The fascination and powerful voice that arose from his book made it a battleground of polemics between Protestants and Catholics in the controversy over the practices of the early Church. B. published in 1600 the pamphlet *Historia passionis b. Caeciliae virginis* on the occasion of the discovery of the relics of St. Cecilia, of which he left an interesting account.