MARINI, GAETANO. – Priest, epigraphist, archivist, archaeologist, b. at S. Arcangelo di Romagna on 10 Dec. 1740, d. in Paris on 17 May 1815.
Drawn to archaeology, also through the encouragement of illustrious figures, he was appointed in Rome as assistant and later prefect of the Archives of the Holy See; Clement XIV entrusted him with the reorganization of the Christian and pagan inscriptions preserved in the Vatican. In 1798, the French government of the Roman Republic entrusted him with the same duties regarding the Archives and the direction of the Vatican Library and Museum. Pius VII, in 1800, appointed him first custodian of the same Library. In 1810 he had to go to Paris to arrange the Archives of the Holy See, which had been transported to France. After Napoleon’s fall, he oversaw the return of the Archives, as well as the 500 manuscripts and works of art that Pius VI had been forced to cede to Napoleon under the Armistice of Bologna (1796) and the Treaty of Tolentino (1797). Marini was to take possession of all this material, but due to age and poor health he could not; the task was carried out by his nephew Marino in 1815.
In Marini’s works, some of which remained in manuscript, one notes profound preparation, erudition, and diligence. Among them are: Iscrizioni inedite del Museo Clementino, in Giornale de’ Letterati, vol. XVI, Pisa 1774; Iscrizioni antiche delle ville e de’ palazzi Albani, Rome 1785; Gli Atti e Monumenti dei fratelli Arcali scolpiti già in tavole di marmo ed ora raccolti, decifrati e commentati, 2 vols., ibid. 1795; I papiri diplomatici raccolti ed illustrati dall’abate G. M., primo Custode della Bibl. Vatic. e prefetto degli Archivi secreti della Santa Sede, ibid. 1805. The Inscriptions christianae latinae et graecae aevi milliarili... a Biblioteca Vaticana item a scrinii Sedis Apostolicae remained unpublished (codices Vat. lat. 9071, 9072, 9073, 9074). The Roman inscriptions were later published by Mai in Scriptorum veterum nova collectio e Vaticanis Codicibus edita, Rome 1825–38. Marini’s manuscripts were collected by De Rossi, who published the complete work on the Iscrizioni doliarie (ibid. 1884).