Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/822

 DE ROSSI

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DE ROSSI

tory department of the well-known Jesuit institution, the Collegio Romano, and through his entire course ranked as its foremost pupil. From 1838 to 1840 he studied philosophy there, and jurisprudence (1840- 44) at the Roman University (Sapienza), where he was a disciple of the celebrated professors Villani and Capalti. At the close of his university studies he re- ceived, after a severe examination, the degree of doc- tor utriiisque juris ad honorem.

De Rossi showed so strong an interest in Christian antiquity that on his eleventh birthday his father wished to give lum the great work of Antonio Bosio, "La Roma Sotterranea:". In 1843, before he received the doctor's degree, he matured a plan for a syste- matic and critical collection of all Christian inscriptions. In 1841, notwithstanding the protests of his anxious father, he ■N'isited, for the first time, under the guid- ance of the Jesuit Father Marchi, one of the then much neglected catacombs. After this De Rossi and Mar- chi pursued their archieological studies together, so that they were known as "the inseparable friends", though the difference in years was great. As soon as he had fiiiished his studies De Rossi was appointed scriptor at the Vatican Library and bore this modest but honourable title, in which he took especial pride, all his life. Great credit is due him for his careful cat- aloguing of hundreds of Vatican manuscripts. The free use of the treasures of the Vatican Library and archives was a rich source of development for his in- tellectual powers, especially in the sense of breadth and catholicity of interest. His official duties were not heavy, and he was able to carry on hLs private studies without hindrance. In 1838, in company with his parents, he went on his first journey and xns- ited Tuscany, where the innumerable treasures of art completely absorbed his attention. During the sum- mers of 1844-50 he visited the territory of the ancient Hernici in Latium and also Naples; in this way the knowledge he attained of the period of the Roman Republic was not purely theoretical. In 1853 he travelled for the first time by himself and went again to Tuscany, also to the Romagna, Lombardy, and Venice. In 1856 he visited Liguria, Piedmont, Switzerland, France, and Belgium; in 1858 he went again to Piedmont, visited the western part of Switz- erland, and the district of the Rhine as far as Cologne; from Cologne he went by way of Aachen, Trier, and Frankfort to Bavaria and Austria, and back to Rome by way of Venice and the Romagiia. On a second trip to France in 1862 he visited the northern part of that country, and after going for a short time to Lon- don returned by way of Paris and Switzerland to Rome. In 1864 he went to Naples for a second time, and in 1865 was in France for the third time, visiting particularly the southern French cities. In 1868 he was again in France, and in 1869 and 1870 he went to Tuscany and Umbria; in 1872-75 he explored the vicinity of Rome ; in 1876 and 1879 he investigated the treasures of Naples and the surrounding countrj-, and in 1878 he made a trip again to Venice and Lombardy.

These journeys of De Rossi are of much importance for the proper appreciation of his scientific labours. Such long and fatiguing expeditions were undertaken solely in order to inspect museums, libraries, galleries, archives, and other institutions of learning and art, to form personal relations with the scholars of the coim- tries visited, and to increase the range of his mental outlook, always fixed on a subject as a whole. De Rossi's extraordinary knowledge of the most obscure monuments of the civilized countries of Europe, and his thorough familiarity with manuscript sources, made it possible for him, as undisputed leader and master, to guide the science of Christian archseologj-, not unjustly called his science, during several dec- ades, into new paths. These journeys help to ex- plain De Rossi's remarkable literary productiveness, especially when considered in connexion with his

minute investigation of all the monuments, both on the surface and underground, of the city of Rome and the Roman Campagna. These investigations cov- ered the ancient pagan life of Rome, the early Chris- tian period, also the Middle Ages.

De Rossi's personal relations with the leading schol- ars of Italy and other countries began in his early youth. When he was fourteen the famous Cardinal Mai, Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, found him copying Greek inscriptions in the inscription gallerj' of the Vatican and became greatly interested in the lad; the acquaintance later ripened into a warm friendship. In 1847 began his connexion as a scholar with the fa- mous epigraphist, Bartolommeo Borghesi of San Marino; at a later date Borghesi's works were issued at the expense of Napoleon III under De Rossi's direc- tion. A few years after forming the acquaintance of Borghesi a correspondence was begun between De Rossi and the Benedictine Dom Pitra, of Solesmes, later Cardinal, and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, which ended in a warm friendship with Pitra. This, however, led to an estrangement between Leo XIII and De Rossi. Father Bruzza, the learned Bamabite, was also an intimate friend of De Rossi. Wilhelm Henzen, long director of the German arch;e- ological institute at Rome, lived in friendship and daily comnnmication with De Rossi for forty years. When the Berlin Academy of Sciences, urged by Theodor Mommsen, undertook its monumental pub- lication, the "Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum", it sent a flattering letter to De Rossi to request his co- operation. This led to an intimate friendship with Mommsen. The latter's munerous collaborators on the "Corpus", among them Edwin Bormann, the noted authority on epigraphy, found De Rossi ever ready to assist and guide them. Martigny, the editor of the French edition of the "Bullettino" (see below), as well as Paul Allard, etUtor of the French edition of "Roma Sotterranea", and Desbassyns de Rich- emont, were all closely united to De Rossi by the inter- ests of their common work. To these must be added Louis Duchesne, the brilliant director of the Ecole de Rome, andcollaboratormth De Rossi on the recent edi- tion (1894) of the " Mart jTologium HieronjTnianum". Leopold Delisle, the celebrated savant, pala?ographer, and historian, for many years the head of the Biblio- theque Nationale at Paris, was a man of the same learned tastes as De Rossi ; their meeting led to a very active scientific correspondence, and later to a strong 15 attachment, based on their scholarly interests. WTien, about 1850, Edouard Le Blant formed the acquaint- ance of De Rossi, he was totally ignorant of archaeol- ogy, but an accidental remark of De Rossi led him to take up this science; eventually he became a distin- guished archaeologist and the director of the Ecole de Rome.

Among German Catholics De Rossi's closest friend- ship as a scholar was with Franz Xaver Ivraus. The cool reception he had from Dollinger, whom he once met at Mimich, prevented the forming of any lasting relations. From 1884 Joseph Wilpert came into closer relations with De Rossi, who, up to his death, gave this scholar all possible aid and showed the yoimger man the greatest friendship. The same may be said of Johann Peter Kirsch, archaeologist, patrolo- gist, and historian. De Rossi also encouragetl the labours of Anton de AVaal, the founder and editor of the "Rbmische Quartalschrift", and was a helpful friend to numerous other German scholars. For many years De Rossi's relations were especially inti- mate with Giuseppe Gatti, his assistant in various kinds of learned work. Gatti's fine scholarship en abled De Rossi to carry on daily confidential discus-j sions of learned questions which, after the death oil Henzen, had apparently come to an end. Gatti con- tinues De Rossi's labours in the province of ancient! inscriptions. Henry Stevenson, who died too soonf

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