CATALANI, GIUSEPPE. - Celebrated liturgist, born at Paola (Cosenza) to Francesco and Anna Baroni on June 14, 1698. He completed his studies in Naples, where he was ordained a priest in 1723. He was declared a doctor in theology by the Dominican Vincenzo Maria d'Aragona, archbishop of Cosenza. Having gone to Rome, he took his degree in canon and civil law. In 1731 he received from Clement XII the task of founding the Corsini college for the Italo-Albanians at S. Benedetto Ullano in Calabria. The same Pope proposed the purple to him twice, and Benedict XIV did likewise, holding him in the highest esteem; but he firmly refused, preferring to join the Oratory of St. Jerome of Charity (and not, as many write, the Girolamini). He died in Rome on Aug. 10, 1764 and was buried in S. Maria in Monterone.
His important liturgical writings are: Pontificale romanum prolegomenis et commentariis illustratum (3 vols., Rome 1738-40, Paris 1850, Augsburg 1878); Caeremoniale episcoporum commentariis illustratum (2 vols., Rome 1744, Paris 1860); Sacrarum caeremoniarum sive rituum ecclesiasticorum S. R. Ecclesiae libri tres (2 vols., Rome 1750-1751); De codice S. Evangelii atque servatis in eius tectione et usu variis ritibus (ibid. 1733). His historical activity was also extensive: De magistro sacri Palatis Apostolici libri duo (ibid. 1751); De secretario S. Congregationis Indicis libros duo (ibid. 1751); Prefazioni critiche antoposte agli Annali d'Italia di L. A. Muratori (ibid. 1754); Sacrosancta concilia oecumenica commentariis illustrata (4 vols., ibid. 1736-59); Collectio conciliorum Hispaniae et Novi Orbis (ibid. 1693).
C. further published: S. Hieronymi Epistolae selectae in tres libros novo ordine distributae (ibid. 1731); Commentaria in Concilia Oecumenica (4 vols., ibid. 1736, 1743, 1758, 1759); Commentaria in Epistolam D. Hieronymi ad Nepotianum (ibid. 1740); Notae in libros s. Joannis Chrysostomi de Sacerdotio (ibid. 1740).
Bibliography6 works
Francesco Russo