Peter of Mâcon (Petrus Mallii or Manlii)

PETER OF MÂCON (Petrus Mallii or Manlii). - He is known as a presbyter assigned to the office of the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican in the second half of the 12th century and as the author of a complete collection of epigraphic, dedicatory and sepulchral texts then existing in that basilica.

He was induced to compile this collection because the deacon John had dedicated to the pontiff Alexander III (1159-81) a writing exalting the supremacy of the Lateran Basilica over the other churches; P. set against it a writing of his own, dedicating it to the same pontiff Alexander III, in order to champion in his turn the primacy of the Vatican Basilica over the other basilicas and churches of Rome and of the world, because it was founded on the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles and enclosed the tombs of the first popes, as well as for the artistic merit of its construction and its monuments. In some passages the libellus upheld its arguments almost by paraphrasing those of his opponent. In describing the Vatican Basilica the author inserts the text of the epitaphs of the pontiffs buried there and various inscriptions existing in the chapels and in its other parts, in order to exalt ever more the importance of the distinguished sacred building. The manuscript is preserved in the Vatican Basilica; the text is recorded in a codex of the Biblioteca Claromontana and edited by Ianning in the Acta Sanctorum (Iunii, VII, pp. 37-54). Cod. Vat. 6757, from the beginning of the 13th century, contains the text revised with additions by the Roman presbyter assigned to the same Basilica; it was edited by Paolo de Angelis in 1646. It was published again by G. B. De Rossi, taken from cod. Vat. 3627, of the 16th century, deriving from an exemplar of the end of the 12th century.

Gioacchino Mancini