CAVEDONI, VENANZIO CELESTINO. — Priest, born at Levizzano (Modena) on 17 May 1795, died at Modena on 26 November 1865. Mezzofanti initiated him into the study of ancient coins. But his scholarly activity was not limited to this field; De Rossi called him “the Nestor” of Italian antiquarians (Roma sotter, I, Rome 1864, p. 80). Of his writings, 293 concern numismatics, 153 epigraphic questions, 356 sacred subjects, and 160 various archaeological questions. His reviews, published in numerous scholarly journals, very often contain critical and original observations.
Among his numismatic writings, the following should be mentioned: The Holy Books of the Old and New Testaments Illustrated and Defended through Comparisons with Ancient Medals (Modena 1857) and Critical Investigations Concerning the Medals of Constantine the Great and His Sons, Bearing Christian Types and Symbols, which appeared in the Religious Opuscula of 1858. The Memoirs of Religion published several of his works: for example, the Explanation of the Funerary Inscription of St. Decentius the Martyr, Whose Sacred Body, Transported from Rome, Was Deposited in the Parish Church of Vignola (1858); The Era of the Martyrs, or of Diocletian, Illustrated through Comparison with the Ancient Greek Inscriptions of Egypt (1848); the Historical-Archaeological Account of Two Ancient Christian Cemeteries in the City of Chiusi (1853–54); and the Chronological Notes Concerning the Precise Date of the Principal Apologies and Imperial Rescripts of Trajan and Hadrian Relating to Christians (1855). Finally, noteworthy are the Critical Investigations Concerning the Origin and Rationale of the Present Form of the Sacred Ecclesiastical Pallium (Modena 1856) and the study of a Christian Funerary Monument of the Third or Fourth Century Recently Discovered in Modena, in the Proceedings and Memoirs of the Royal Deputation of Homeland History for the Provinces of Modena and Parma (1863).