GALLONIO, ANTONIO. - Oratorian writer, b. in Rome in 1557, d. there on 15 May 1605. At the age of 20 he entered the Congregation of the Oratory and was always among the intimates of s. Filippo Neri, eventually becoming his secretary and first biographer. He devoted himself to historical studies; he specialized in hagiographical narratives. Of saintly life, he remains one of the most eminent figures of the first Oratorian generation.
He published: Vita b. Philippi Nerii Florentini Congregationis Oratorii fundatoris (Rome 1600, ap. Aloys, Zanettum), a work written in clear Latin, based on certain and direct sources, not prolix, though not entirely complete, although it was the fruit of more than 250 testimonies that G. collected while serving as the principal investigator for Neri’s cause of canonization. Besides minor hagiographical and devotional works, he also wrote: Istoria delle tante Vergini Romane etc. (Rome 1581); De Sanctorum Marquum crucisibus (there 1591), a work that influenced a school of painting which left impressive scenes of martyrdom in the frescoes of S. Stefano Rotondo and of SS. Nereo ed Achilleo.