GALLONIO, Antonio. — Oratorian writer, b. in Rome in 1557, d. 11/11 May 1605. He entered the Congregation of the Oratory in his second year and was always among the intimates of St. Philip Neri, becoming his secretary and first biographer. He devoted himself to historical studies, specializing in hagiographical narratives. Of holy life, he remains one of the most eminent figures of the first Oratorian generation.
He published: *Vita b. Philippi Neri Florentini Congregatio Oratorii fundatoris* (Rome 1600, ap. Aloys. Zanonum), a work written in clear Latin, of reliable and direct source, not prolix but not entirely complete, although it was the fruit of over 250 testimonies that G. gathered as the principal researcher for the cause of canonization of Neri. Besides minor hagiographical and devotional works, he also wrote: *Istoria delle sante Vergini Romanes ecc.* (Rome 1581); *De Sanctorum Martyrum cruciatibus* (ibid. 1591), a work that influenced a pictorial school which left striking scenes of martyrdom in the frescoes of S. Stefano Rotondo and of SS. Nereo and Achille.