ANTONIO MARTINI. — Archbishop of Florence, translator and commentator of the Bible, b. at Prato on 20 Apr. 1720, d. at Florence on 31 Dec. 1809.
He completed his secondary studies at the Cignognini Lyceum in his native city; he took his degree in letters at Pisa in 1748. In 1751 King Charles Emmanuel III appointed him head of the Congregation of priests attached to the basilica of Superga, and he directed that eminent institute of ecclesiastical learning until 1765, when he obtained from the king a release with the title of State Councillor and a pension from the abbey of S. Giacomo in Bessa, in order to be able to devote himself more freely to the translation and commentary of the Bible. In response to the invitation of Cardinal Vittorio Amedeo delle Lanze, he thus sought to carry out the desire of Benedict XIV, expressed also in the brief of 13 June 1757, which permitted vernacular versions of the Bible, provided they were furnished with notes drawn from the Holy Fathers and Catholic scholars.
For the vicissitudes of his version, which appeared between 1769 and 1778 counterfeited by the Jansenists, V. BIBLE. The definitive edition, published in Florence between 1782 and 1792, continues to be reproduced today and survives also in the commented and updated version by M. Sales and G. Girotti (to date 10 vols., Turin 1918-42).
After having been proposed by Victor Amadeus III for the see of Bobbio, he was appointed by Pius VI to the archbishopric of Florence, which he held from 25 Apr. 1781 until his death.
Besides the *S. Bibbia* (Naples 1771-81 and many other editions), approved by a brief of Pius VI of 17 Mar. 1778,
M. wrote among other works: *Istoria e concordia evangelica spiegata al popolo* (Florence 1812; in Latin, Milan 1829); *Istruzione sopra il Simbolo degli Apostoli* (Milan 1814); *Responsio atque declaratio contra libri ab episc. Collensi circa quaestionem de decisivo voto praecl.* (1787), in which he denies parish priests a decisive vote. Complete edition: *Opera omnia* (10 vols., Milan 1830; 32 vols., Venice 1833-35).
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**Pietro De Ambroggi**