Francesco Antonio Zaccaria

Who was Francesco Antonio Zaccaria?

Francesco Antonio Zaccaria was an Italian theologian, historian, and prolific writer.

Zaccaria was born in Venice. He joined the Austrian province of the Society of Jesus on 18 October 1731. Zaccaria taught grammar and rhetoric at 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.