BOVERIO, ZACCARIA DA SALUZZO. — Capuchin writer of the Piedmontese province, b. in 1568, d. at Genoa on 31 March 1638.
Missionary against the Protestants of the Piedmontese valleys and Savoy (1600–12), he refuted their doctrines in the Demonstratissimus symbolorum verae et falsae religionis (2 vols., Lyons 1617); lecturer in theology at Dijon (1618), he wrote the Paraenesis catholica (Lyons 1618) and the Censura paraenetica (Milan 1621) against the errors concerning the constitution of the Church in the De republica ecclesiastica of Archbishop Marcantonio de Dominis, who had converted to Anglicanism; he dedicated the Orthodoxa consultatio de ratione verae fidei et religionis amplectendae (Madrid 1623, Cologne 1626, Rome 1635) to the conversion of Prince Charles of Wales, the future king of England; in 1624 the Congregation de Propaganda Fide entrusted him with directing a school of controversy in the convent of S. Bonaventura in Rome. A doctor of law, he composed for the use of his confrères the Directorium fori iudicialis (Turin 1624) and the De sacris ritibus (Naples 1626). He was general definitor and consultor to the minister general, Cardinal F. Barberini, and the Congregation of the Holy Office. He is known above all as a historiographer of the Order; the two Latin volumes of his Annales, the first extending to 1580 (Lyons 1632), the second to 1612 (posthumous, ibid. 1639), are still held in esteem. The Italian version appeared in four volumes: volumes I and II based on the text emended by the author himself (Turin 1641; Venice 1643); volumes III and IV (ibid. 1645). The documentary foundation consists of the ancient manuscript chronicles and the reports sent by the provinces; rather than the scrutiny of criticism, B. loves to edify through hagiographic lessons and pious narratives. The reaction of the Observant Friars Minor to the polemical passages led the Holy Office, in 1651, to issue a decree ordering emendations to the Latin and Italian editions; this was withdrawn the following year, while the controversies did not cease. The Spanish version is in 3 volumes (Madrid 1644, 1646, 1647); the French in 2 (Paris 1675, 1677); the German in 3 (Salzburg 1664, 1665, 1667); the Polish divides volume I into two parts (Warsaw 1780, 1790). Marcellino de Pise da Mâcon continued the Latin narrative to 1634 with volume III (Lyons 1676); Italian version in 3 vols. (Trent 1708; Milan 1711, 1714); Spanish version in 2 vols. (Madrid 1690, 1691); German version (Salzburg 1690). Silvestro Draghetta da Milano composed a fourth Latin volume of appendices in two parts (Milan 1737); Italian version in 2 vols. (ibid. 1744); Spanish version of the first part (Madrid 1758).