LANZONI, FRANCESCO. - Church historian, b. at Faenza on 10 July 1862, d. there on 8 February 1929. From his native seminary he went to complete his studies at the Seminario Pio and obtained degrees in philosophy, theology and both laws. Ordained a priest, he returned to his diocese in 1890 as a canon, rector of the seminary and teacher, and held these two offices until 1917; in 1923 he was vicar capitular.
He immediately lavished his activity generously as a publicist in the local press, soon directing his scientific inquiry in particular toward historical-hagiographical criticism, aided by a keen discernment that enabled him to overcome the difficulties of a self-taught man. The study of local records soon drove him to the critical examination of the legends of the saints of his region: St. Peter Damian, St. Mercurialis of Forlì (1905), St. Sabinus of Faenza, St. Cassian of Imola, St. Apollinaris of Ravenna, etc. First work of greater bulk: S. Petronio nella storia e nella leggenda (Rome 1907); then: Santi africani nella bassa Italia e nelle isole adiacenti (in Scuola Cattolica, vols. 46-47 [1918-19]); Le vite dei quattro santi protettori della città di Faenza (RIS, XXVIII, part 3, pp. 287-395). These and other works, published in the periodicals of the time, served as preparation for Le origini delle diocesi d'Italia [Studi e testi, 35], Rome 1923); a work then revised and recast in two volumes in 1927 in the same collection under the title: Le diocesi antiche d'Italia dalle origini al principio del sec. VII (a. 604), a fundamental work for the ecclesiastical history of Italian antiquity. L.'s familiarity with the ancient legends drove him to a systematic study of their origins, nature and derivations, which is demonstrated first in the inquiry on «Il sogno presago della madre incinta nelle letterature medievali e antiche», sketched in 1923, published later in Analecta Bollandiana, 45 (1927), pp. 225-61 and developed in the volume: Genesi, svolgimento e tramonto delle leggende storiche ([Studi e testi, 43], Rome 1925). Minor works are the Cronotassi dei vescovi di Faenza, a tutto il sec. XIII (Faenza 1913), and the Cronotassi dei vescovi di Bologna dai primordi alla fine del sec. XIII, published posthumously in 1932. La controriforma nella città e diocesi di Faenza (Faenza 1925) forms almost a category apart, where more than of the Counter-Reformation one speaks of the heretical propaganda in that city. Nor are works on Franciscan subjects lacking among his minor works.
Of his vicissitudes and the adversities encountered in the course of his scientific activity L. spoke in a work dedicated to his nephews: Le memorie (Faenza 1930).
Bibliography3 works
Pio Paschini