VINCENZO DE VIT (DE VIT) — Scholar. Born 10 July 1810 at Mestrino (Padua), died 18 Aug. 1892 at Domodossola.
Ordained priest in 1836, he taught in the Seminary there until 1844, then served as librarian of the Accademia dei Concordi in Rovigo and as canon of the Cathedral. From the noted Latinist Giuseppe Furlanetto, editor of a new edition of Forcellini’s *Lexicon totius latinitatis* (v.), he had learned in Padua to love classical philology and was entrusted with preparing the *Omonasticon*, a dictionary on the origin and history of Latin proper names, a necessary complement to the *Lexicon*. His first philological essay was a study of Varro’s sayings, largely unpublished and drawn from a 13th-century codex in the Seminary Library. From the same codex he extracted the *Moralis philosophia* of Hildebert, bishop of Le Mans and later of Tours, which he published in 1854 in *Patrologia Latina* 171, 31-32, 103-56. After reading Rosmini’s works, he entered in 1849 as a novice the Institute of Charity at Stresa.
Alongside works of an ascetic and historical nature, he did not neglect Roman antiquities (his collection *Antiche lapidi romane della Provincia del Polesine* appeared in 1853) and above all devoted himself to gathering material for the *Omonasticon* and for a new edition of the *Lexicon*, until he could finally publish it (1858-60). In 1862 he moved to Rome, and in August 1879 issued the remaining five volumes, adding over fifteen thousand words to the Forcellinian dictionary. He did not, however, complete the *Omonasticon*, which he carried only as far as the letter O. The new edition of the *Lexicon*, ref. 11 by Giuseppe Perin, includes the *Omonasticon* in vols. V and VI (reprint, Padua 1940). Among his other writings are: *Memorie storiche di Borgomanero e del suo mandamento* (Milan 1859); *Notizie storiche sopra il Lago Maggiore, Stresa e le isole Borromee* (Prato 1875-78); *Adria e le sue antiche epigrafi illustrate* (Florence 1888); *La provincia romana dell’Ossola* (ibid. 1892).