VITTORI, MARIANO. - Bishop, b. at Rieti in 1518, d. there on 29 June 1572. Ordained a priest, he completed his studies at Siena and from there went on to Rome, where, having learned Ethiopic, he published the first grammatical Institutiones of it (Rome 1552).
The following year he was in the retinue of Cardinal Reginald Pole, sent by Pope Julius III to England to attempt to heal the religious schism. By Cardinal Giovanni Morone, whom Vittori had accompanied to the sessions of the Council of Trent, he was urged to write the treatise De Sacramento confessionis, aimed at combating the claims of the Protestants. He also composed the work in four books De antiquitatibus Reatis, notable, especially book IV, for the topography and history of the Sabine region. Finally he edited and emended with acumen and learning, eliciting unanimous praise, including that of Cardinal Baronio (Martyrologium Romanum, Rome 1630, p. 485), the works of St. Jerome, as opposed to the edition produced with reformist leanings by Erasmus of Rotterdam. He was also a member of the commission of theologians and ecclesiastics charged with the corrections to be made to the Decretum of Gratian. St. Pius V sought out Vittori as his secretary, but the latter managed to avoid the high office out of a desire for quiet and for love of his studies (autograph of Vittori himself to Canon Cappelletti of 15 Aug. 1572). Nevertheless, for his merits he was elected by the same Pontiff to the bishopric of Amelia and afterwards appointed to that of Rieti.
Bibliography
Lanfranco Fiore