MARINI, GAETANO. — Priest, epigraphist, archivist, archaeologist, born at S. Arcangelo di Romagna on 10 December 1740, died in Paris on 17 May 1815.
Attracted to archaeology, also through the encouragement of distinguished figures, he was appointed coadjutor in Rome, and later prefect of the Archives of the Holy See; Clement XIV had him reorganize the Christian and pagan inscriptions preserved in the Vatican. In 1798, the French government of the Roman Republic assigned him the same post for the Archives and for the direction of the Vatican Library and Museum. In 1800, Pius VII 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 supervised the restitution of the Archives, as well as of 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). M. was supposed to take possession of all the material; but because of his age and poor health he was unable to do so; the assignment was carried out by his nephew Marino in 1815.
In M.’s works, some of which remained in manuscript, profound preparation, erudition, and diligence are evident. The following may be mentioned: Unpublished Inscriptions of the Clementine Museum, in Giornale de' Letterati, vol. XVI, Pisa 1774; Ancient Inscriptions of the Albani Villas and Palaces, Rome 1785; The Acts and Monuments of the Arval Brothers, Formerly Carved on Marble Tablets and Now Collected, Deciphered, and Commented Upon, 2 vols., ibid. 1795; The Diplomatic Papyri Collected and Illustrated by Abbot G. M., First Custodian of the Vatican Library and Prefect of the Secret Archives of the Holy See, ibid. 1805. The Inscriptiones christianae latinae et graecae aevi millarii... a Biblioteca Vaticana item a scriniis Sedis Apostolicae remained unpublished (Vatt. Latin codices 9071, 9072, 9073, 9074). The Roman inscriptions were later published by Mai in «Scriptorum veterum nova collectio e Vaticanis Codicibus edita», Rome 1825–38. M.’s manuscripts were collected by De Rossi, who published the complete work relating to the Dollar Inscriptions (ibid. 1884).