Francesco Antonio Zaccaria (March 27, 1714 – October 10, 1795) was an Italian theologian, historian, and prolific writer.

Biography

Francesco Antonio Zaccaria was born in Venice. His father, Tancredi, was a noted jurist. He joined the Austrian province of the Society of Jesus on 18 October 1731. Zaccaria taught grammar, the humanities, and rhetoric in the College of Gorizia, and was ordained priest at Rome in 1740. He spent some time in pastoral work in Ancona, Fermo, and Pistoia, gaining renown as a preacher and controversial lecturer. In 1751 he succeeded Muratori as ducal archivist and librarian of Modena, but was removed in 1768, owing to his Antifebronio, in which he strenuously defended the rights of the Holy See. He was then appointed librarian at the Jesuit professed house in Rome. Clement XIII allowed him an annual pension, continued under Clement XIV, and increased by Pius VI, who appointed him professor of church history at the Sapienza and director of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. He was a member of at least 19 Italian academies. He died in Rome, aged 81.

Works

Of the 161 printed works ascribed to him by Sommervogel the following are the most important.

Church history

Theology and canon law

Polemics

Liturgy

Archaeology

Literary history

Annotated editions