Lorenzo Alessandro Zaccagni

Lorenzo Alessandro Zaccagni (1652 -1712) was an Italian librarian and Patristic scholar and author. His main contribution is a collection of texts relating to early controversies in Christianity, Collectanea monumentorum veterum Ecclesiæ græcæ et latinæ,[1] published by the Vatican in 1698 with the approval of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide.

Biography

Born in Rome to a Florentine family, he studied classics and became a scholar of Greek and Latin in Rome. He came into the patronage first of Cardinal Girolamo Casanatta and then of Cardinal Henry Noris.[2]

Cardinal Casanate had been named Bibliotecario di Santa Romana Chiesa (Librarian of the Vatican) and had directed various congregations for the Pope, including the Offices of the Inquisition. Henry Noris was made assistant Librarian in the Vatican by Pope Innocent XII. In 1700, on the death of Cardinal Casanate, Noris was given full charge of the Vatican Library. Both fostered the work of Zaccagni, which would have been previously considered suspect because it elucidated works discussing heresy.

As Prefect of the Vatican Library, Zaccagni had access to a copy of the Atti di Archelao by Hegemonius found at Monte Cassino with a version in the Vatican,[3] as well as to the works of Euthalius. Such documents were among those included in his Collectanea.

Zaccagni was buried in the church of San Giovanni Decollato and his inscription on the pavement stated that he was a man of honorable parts and practice, his books were celebrated by both Italians and foreigners, and had raised the scholarship of the Papal states.[4]

References
  1. Collectanea monumentorum veterum Ecclesiæ græcæ et latinæ, by Lorenzo Alessandro Zaccagni, Rome (1698).
  2. Notizie istoriche degli Arcadi morti. Tomo secondo by Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni, (1720), page 49-50.
  3. Raccolta di dissertazioni di storia ecclesiastica in italiano o scritte, by Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, pages 216-217.
  4. Crescimbeni, page 53:Patria Romano Florentia oriundo/ Bibliotheca Vatican Praefecto/ Viro et Partis et neglectis honoribus/ Librisque qua editis qua paratis/ Apud italas Gentes et exteras quoque celeberrimo/ qui insperato sublatus/ Tunc/ Cum maiora Litteratorum Reipublice promitteret/ et a summis Pontificibus expectoret/ Hic se humandum jussit/
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