LANZONI, FRANCESCO. — Church historian, b. at Faenza on 10 July 1862, d. there on 8 February 1929. From the diocesan seminary he went on to complete his studies at the Pio Seminary and obtained degrees in philosophy, theology, and both laws. Ordained a priest, he returned to the diocese in 1890 as canon, rector of the seminary, and teacher, and held these two offices until 1917; in 1923 he became capitular vicar.
He immediately devoted his energies generously to work as a writer in the local press, soon directing his scholarly investigations particularly toward historical and hagiographical criticism, aided by a keen discernment that enabled him to overcome the difficulties of being self-taught. The study of local traditions quickly led him to a critical examination of the legends of the saints of his region: s. Pier Damiani, s. Mercuriale of Forlì (1905), s. Sabino of Faenza, s. Cassiano of Imola, s. Apollinare of Ravenna, etc. His first substantial work was: S. Petronio nella storia e nella leggenda (Rome 1907); followed by: 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, prepared the way for Le origini delle diocesi d'Italia [Studi e testi, 35], Rome 1923); the work was subsequently revised and issued 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 antiquity in Italy. L.’s familiarity with ancient legends led him to a systematic study of their origins, nature, and derivations, first demonstrated in the investigation «Il sogno presago della madre incinta nelle letterature medievali e antiche», sketched out in 1923, then published 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). His minor works include Cronotassi dei vescovi di Faenza, a tutto il sec. XIII (Faenza 1913), and Cronotassi dei vescovi di Bologna dai primordi alla fine del sec. XIII, published posthumously in 1932. A work that forms almost a category of its own is: La controriforma nella città e diocesi di Faenza (Faenza 1925), in which the subject is already less the Counter-Reformation than heretical propaganda in that city. Among his minor works there are also several dealing with Franciscan subjects.
L. spoke of his experiences and of the adversities encountered in the course of his scholarly activity in a work dedicated to his nephews: Le memorie (Faenza 1930).