CAETANI, COSTANTINO. - Benedictine, b. at Siracusa in 1560, d. at Roma on 17 Sept. 1650. On 29 Oct. 1586 he entered the monastery of S. Nicola d'Arona at Catania. He was appointed by Pope Paolo V abbot of S. Baronzio in the diocese of Pistoia and later, by Urbano VIII, obtained the priory of S. Maria Latina in Sicilia. Summoned to Roma, he was appointed custodian of the Vatican Library and attached to the pontifical archives. He conceived the foundation of the Gregorian College of S. Benedetto and chose the site in Trastevere near the church of S. Benedetto in Piscinula. Pope Gregorio XV, by a bull of 18 May 1621, authorized its establishment, and Caetani himself was appointed its president. He wrote very extensively.
He published, with commentary, the works of St. Pier Damiani: Sancti Petri Damiani S. R. E. cardinalis et episcopi Ostienis opera (4 vols., Roma 1606–40). He took part in the discussion concerning the author of the Imitazione di Cristo, attributing the work to Giovanni Gersen, a Benedictine abbot, against Fr. H. Rosweide, who held Tommaso da Kempis to be its author. Among his publications, the following should especially be mentioned: SS. trium episcoporum religionis benedictinae luminum Isidori Hispalensis, Ildephonsi Toletani et Gregorii S. R. E. cardinalis episcopi Hostiensis vitae et actiones scheliis illustratae (ibid. 1616); Galasii II papae vita a Paudulpho Pisano conscripta nunc primum edita et commentariis illustrata a D. Constantino Caetano (ibid. 1638).