SCAGLIA, SISTO. - Reformed Cistercian of La Trappe and Christian archaeologist, b. at Anzola d'Ossola (Novara) on 14 Dec. 1872, d. at Rome on 19 Sept. 1918.
Having spent his childhood and early youth in Novara, owing to his family’s straitened circumstances he was admitted in 1894 to the Seminary of Arona, whence he passed in 1895 to that of Gozzano; in 1899 to that of Novara, where he subsequently carried out apostolic work among the young people of the Salesian Oratory. The tragic death of his mother inspired in him a vocation to an austere life, and he entered the Trappists in Rome, where he devoted himself to Christian archaeology, residing for a long time at the cemetery of S. Callisto. In 1914 he then joined the Cistercian Congregation of Italy, at S. Croce in Gerusalemme. Among his considerable scholarly output, outstanding is the work in 4 vols., Notiones archeologiae Christianae disciplinis theologicis coordinatae, Rome 1909–11. Other esteemed works by S. are Les catacombes de St Callixte, Rome 1909; I mosaici antichi di S. Maria Maggiore (ibid. 1910); Manuel d'archéologie chrétienne (Turin 1916); I « Novissimi » nei monumenti primitivi della Chiesa (Schio 1923).