CASIMIRIO da ROMA. — Franciscan historian of the 18th century, died in Rome on 17 April 1749. Neither the date of his birth nor the Roman family to which he belonged is known. He donned the Franciscan habit in the Roman province of S. Maria in Araceli at the beginning of the 18th century, certainly before 1705, when he is already found as a cleric studying belles-lettres in the convent of S. Francesco in Palombara.
In 1707 he was transferred to the convent of S. Maria in Araceli in Rome to complete his studies in philosophy and theology. In 1713 he taught letters in the convent of S. Francesco in Tivoli, then in that of S. Bartolomeo all’Isola in Rome, until in 1721 he moved to teach theology in Araceli. In 1728 he left the chair to devote himself entirely to collecting and organizing the memories of the church and convent of S. Maria in Araceli, as well as those of the other convents of the Roman province and the monasteries of nuns subject to II. He spared no effort in his research work, which he then, with true acumen, arranged in two quarto volumes: the first, *Memorie istoriche della chiesa e del convento di S. Maria in Araceli di Roma*, saw the light in Rome in 1736, while C. was still alive, while the other,
*Memorie istoriche delle chiese e dei conventi dei Frati Minori della Provincia Romana*, already ready and approved for printing in 1741, was published by Nicola Borgiani only in 1754. To both volumes C. had added supplements repeatedly. Gregorio Giacomo Terribilini in his *Diario* (cod. Vat. lat. 12.502, ff. 36-59) has dwelt at length on the erudite figure of C. The two cited works show him to be a historian not unworthy of the century of the Maurists and of Ludovico Antonio Muratori. The one on Araceli may justly be considered the first monograph of a church in Rome, understood in the modern sense: both constitute a mine of well-checked information that today is not always possible to find in their sources.