ZACCARIA DA SALUZZO, ZACHARIAS OF SALUZZO (Nono Boverio). — Capuchin writer of the Piedmontese province, born in 1568, died in Genoa on 31 March 1638.
Missionary against the Protestants of the Piedmontese valleys and Savoy (1600-12), he refuted their doctrines in the *Demonstrations symbolorum verae et falsae religionis* (2 vols., Lyon 1617); theology lecturer at Dijon (1618), he wrote the *Paravensis catholica* (Lyon 1618) and the *Censura paravensis* (Milan 1621) against the errors on the constitution of the Church contained in the *De republica ecclesiastica* of the archbishop Marcantonio de Dominis, who had turned to Anglicanism. To the conversion of the Prince of Wales, future King of England, he dedicated the *Orthodoxa consultatio de ratione verae fidei et religionis amplectendae* (Madrid 1623, Cologne 1626, Rome 1635). In 1624, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith entrusted him with directing a school of controversies at the convent of St. Bonaventure in Rome. A doctor of law, he composed for the use of his brethren the *Directorium fori judicialis* (Turin 1624) and the *De sacris ritibus* (Naples 1626). He served as definitor general, consultant to the minister general, Cardinal F. Barberini, and the Congregation of the Holy Office. He is best known as the historian of his Order; his two Latin volumes of *Annales*, the first covering the year 1580 (Lyon 1632) and the second the year 1612 (posthumous, ibid. 1639), are still valued. The Italian version appeared in four volumes: the first and second based on the text revised by the author himself (Turin 1641; Venice 1643); the third and fourth (ibid. 1645). The documentary base consists of ancient manuscript chronicles and reports sent by the provinces; rather than subjecting them to critical scrutiny, Boverio prefers to edify through hagiographic lessons and narratives. The reaction of the Observant Franciscans to the polemical elements provoked by the Holy Office led, in 1651, to a decree ordering corrections to the Latin and Italian editions, which was revoked the following year, though the controversies did not cease. The Spanish version runs to three volumes (Madrid 1644, 1646, 1647); the French in two (Paris 1675, 1677); the German in three (Salzburg 1664, 1665, 1667); the Polish divides the first volume into two parts (Warsaw 1780, 1790). Marcellino da Pisa of Macon continued the Latin narrative up to 1634 with volume III (Lyon 1676); Italian version in three volumes (Trent 1708; Milan 1711, 1714); Spanish version in two volumes (Madrid 1690, 1691); German version (Salzburg 1690). Silvestro Draghetta of Milan composed a fourth Latin volume of appendices in two parts (Milan 1737); Italian version in two volumes (ibid. 1744); Spanish version of the first part (Madrid 1758).