MARCELLINO da CIVEZZA. - Franciscan, historian of the missions of his Order, b. at Civezza (Imperia) on 29 May 1822; d. at Livorno on 27 March 1906.
Professor of philosophy, theology, and sacred eloquence in various convents and at the general convent of Aracoeli. In 1856 he was commissioned to write the history of the Franciscan missions, a task to which he devoted himself for about thirty years, publishing the Storia universale delle missioni francescane (11 vols., Rome-Prato-Florence 1857-95), which, despite the defects of the first volumes, remains the most extensive work on the subject. A missionary review, the first of its kind in Italy, appeared in two series: Cronaca delle missioni francescane, from 1860 to 1866, and Le missioni francescane, from 1890 to 1897. Nor should the valuable Saggio di bibliografia... sanfrancescana (Prato 1879) be forgotten. A most prolific polygraph, he also founded various reviews, including La Vergine, a Marian periodical begun in 1863. He also concerned himself with Columbian and Dante studies. Worth recalling are: Il romano pontificato nella storia d'Italia (3 vols., Florence 1886-87; 2nd ed., Prato 1888); the editions of Fr. Johannis de Serravalle... translatio et comentum totius libri Dantis Aldigherii (Prato 1891) and of the Breviloquium super libros Sententiarum de Fr. Gherardo da Prato (ibid. 1882); Della vera filosofia e delle dottrine filosofiche del serafico dottore s. Bonaventura (Genoa 1894); Orbis seraphicus de missionibus (II, 1, Quaracchi 1886).