Martigny, Jean-Alexandre - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VIII, p. 148

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

MARTIGNY, JEAN-ALEXANDRE. - Priest, archaeologist, b. at Sauverny (Ain) on 22 Apr. 1808, d. at Bagé-le-Châtel on 19 Aug. 1880.

After ten years of study, he published the Dictionnaire des antiquités chrétiennes (Paris 1865, 1877, and 1899 [posthumous]), regarded in its day as a classic and fundamental work; but the author’s knowledge does not go beyond the studies of Fr. G. Marchi. From 1867 to 1879 he edited the French translation of G. B. De Rossi’s Bulletino di archeologia cristiana. Also worthy of mention are: Notice-historique, liturgique et archéologique sur le culte de ste Agnès (Paris 1847) and, among the many works published in the Annales de l'Académie de Mâcon from 1851 to 1854: Des symboles dans l'antiquité chrétienne; Etude archéologique sur l'Agneau et le Bon Pasteur; Le poisson considéré comme symbole chrétien.

BIBL.: Et. Milliet, Notice sur l'abbé M., in Revue de la Soc. littér., du département de l'Ain, 9 (1880), pp. 190-94; trans. in Bull. di arch. crist., 3ᵉ serie, 5 (1880), p. 79; P. Allard, Mgr M. et les antiquités chrétiennes, in Lettres chrétiennes, 3 (1881-82), pp. 1-26; H. Leclercq, s. V. in DACL, X, II, cols. 2322-34. Carlo Carletti