VOGEL, JOSEPH ANTON. - Historian, born 25 March 1756 at Altkirch (Alsace, diocese of Basel), died 26 Aug. 1817 at Loreto.
Ordained a priest in 1780, he was parish priest of the village of Obermorschweiler. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, he refused to take the oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, for which reason he was thrown into prison and then exiled. Having first taken refuge in Switzerland in 1792, two years later he withdrew to the Papal States and took up residence in Fermo. There he devoted himself to historical studies and contributed to the Antichità Picene published by Colucci with a work entitled Memorie storiche dell'Abbadia di Farfa.
He was subsequently called upon to reorganize the archives of Matelica and Cingoli, and had the opportunity to study the documents of various libraries and archives in the region. Called to Recanati in 1802 by Mons. Felice Paoli, bishop of Recanati and Loreto, he began the composition of a history of the two bishoprics, which was published several decades after his death, in 1859 (De Ecclesiis Recanatensi et Lauretana earumque episcopis commentarius historicus, 2 vols., Recanati 1859). After the death of Bishop Paoli, he was also highly esteemed by Paoli’s successor, Mons. S. Bellini, who appointed him canon of the cathedral of Recanati in 1809 and of that of Loreto in 1814.