MOMBRIZIO, BONINO. - Italian humanist, b. in 1424, d. at Milano in 1500. Having completed his studies at Ferrara, from 1460 he lived in Milano, teaching Latin and Greek letters and carrying on notable activity as translator and editor of sacred and patristic works, such as the Glossary of Papia, the Mirabilia of Solino, the Chronicles of Eusebio, Girolamo, Prospero, and Matteo Palmieri (Milano 1475).
Of particular importance is his hagiographical collection, Sanctuarium. Vitae Sanctorum (Milano c. 1480), which comprises 334 “legends” of martyrs and confessors. M. was the first who, without indulging in adaptations in humanistic taste, and with sound philological criteria, published in full hagiographical texts drawn directly from ancient manuscript codices. The problem of the sources of the Sanctuarium, however, has not yet been completely resolved. A reprint of it, in two volumes, was prepared by the Benedictines of Solesmes (Parigi 1910). A short poem in Italian verse on z. Caterina d'Alessandria has also been preserved by M. (La légende de ste Catherine d'Alexandrie. Poème italien du XVᵉ siècle, edited by A. Bayot-P. Groult, Gembloux 1943).
