PELLICCIA, ALESSIO AURELIO

PELLICCIA, ALESSIO AURELIO. - Neapolitan priest, historian, and archaeologist, b. in 1740 (or 1744), d. in 1823 (or 1822).

At the age of sixteen he composed a pamphlet concerning the origin and purpose of public and private prayers for sovereigns, which he also translated into Latin for Empress Maria Teresa. Ordained priest in 1781, he subsequently obtained the teaching post in Christian antiquities at the University of Napoli. Under the reign of G. Murat he held the chair of diplomatics and was vicar general of the archdiocese. He was a member of the Constitutional Parliament of 1820.

Works: De christianae Ecclesiae primae, mediae et novissimae aetatis politia (2 vols., Napoli 1777-81 and, better, Bassano 1782); noteworthy are dissertation IV, De lapidaria et de siglis veterum Christianorum, which for its time was regarded as a manual of ancient Christian epigraphy; and dissertation V, De coemeterio sive catacumba Neapolitana, with a plan taken from Boldetti. Also: De publica et privata prece pro principibus, Napoli 1789; Topografia di Napoli e sobborghi; Origine e vicende delle proprietà dalla discesa dei Longobardi; Cronache e diari del Regno di Napoli, ibid. 1780-1782, 5 vols.; Istituzioni della scienza diplomatica, ibid. 1813, and other dissertations on archaeological subjects.