Editing Caesar Baronius

{{Short description|Italian cardinal and ecclesiastical historian (1538–1607)}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Cardinal
| honorific_prefix = [[List of venerated Catholics|The Venerable]]
| name = Cesare Baronio
| honorific-suffix = [[Oratory of Saint Philip Neri|C.O.]]
| image = Portret van kardinaal Baronius, onbekend, schilderij, Museum Plantin-Moretus (Antwerpen) - MPM V IV 111 (cropped).jpg
| caption = 
| title = [[Santi Nereo e Achilleo|Cardinal Priest of Santi Nereo ed Achilleo]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| province = 
| diocese = 
| archdiocese = 
| see = 
| appointed = 21 June 1596
| enthroned = 
| ended = 30 June 1607
| term = 
| predecessor = [[Gianfrancesco Morosini]]
| successor = [[Innocenzo Del Bufalo-Cancellieri]]
| ordination = 27 May 1564
| ordinated_by = 
| consecration = 
| consecrated_by = 
| other_post = [[Vatican Library|Librarian of the Vatican Library]] (1597 – 1607)
| cardinal = 5 June 1596
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Clement VIII]]
| rank = Cardinal-Priest
| previous_post = 
| birth_name = Cesare Baronio
| birth_date = 30 August 1538
| birth_place = [[Sora, Italy|Sora]], [[Duchy of Sora]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1607|6|30|1538|8|30|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
| buried = [[Santa Maria in Vallicella]]
| nationality = 
| religion = 
| residence = 
| parents = 
| alma_mater = 
| signature = 
| coat_of_arms = 
| motto = <!---------- Sainthood ---------->
| feast_day = 
| venerated = 
| saint_title = 
| beatified_date = 
| beatified_place = 
| beatified_by = 
| canonized_date = 
| canonized_place = 
| canonized_by = 
| attributes = 
| patronage = 
| shrine = 
| suppressed_date = <!---------- Other ---------->
| other = 
}}
{{infobox cardinalstyles
|cardinal name = Caesar Baronius
|image         = 
|dipstyle      = His Eminence
|offstyle      = Your Eminence|
|See=|
}}

'''Cesare Baronio''', [[Oratory of Saint Philip Neri|C.O.]] (as an author also known as '''Caesar Baronius'''; 30 August 1538 &ndash; 30 June 1607) was an Italian [[Oratory of Saint Philip Neri|Oratorian]], [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]] and [[historian]] of the [[Catholic Church]]. His best-known works are his ''[[Annales Ecclesiastici]]'' ("Ecclesiastical Annals"), which appeared in 12 folio volumes (1588&ndash;1607). He is under consideration for sainthood and, in 1745, [[Pope Benedict XIV]] declared him "[[List of venerated Catholics|Venerable]]."

== Life ==
Cesare Baronio was born in the [[Duchy of Sora]] (present day [[Sora, Lazio|Sora]] in Italy) on 31 October 1538, the only child of Camillo Baronio and his wife Porzia Febonia. His family was of Neapolitan origin.<ref name=Peterson>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02304b.htm Peterson, John Bertram. "Venerable Cesare Baronius." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907 {{PD-notice}}</ref>

Baronio was educated at [[Veroli]] and [[Naples]], where he commenced his law studies in October 1556. Because of the fear of an imminent French invasion, he left Naples on 29 October 1557, and traveled to Rome, where he continued his legal studies and obtained a [[doctorate]] ''[[in utroque iure]]'' in 1561.{{sfn|Pincherle|1964}} He took up residence in a house on the Piazza Duca, now the [[Piazza Farnese]], not far from the church of [[San Girolamo della Carità]], where [[Philip Neri]] lived. Baronio was soon drawn to the circle of Philip Neri, who opened a meeting place for churchmen and laity who were interested in intellectual discussions on religion and philosophy. The Bible, church reform, ethics, and liturgy were some of the main themes of their evening discussions. Among those who frequented the evening meetings at Neri's residence were some of the most influential church leaders of the [[Counter-Reformation]] - [[Charles Borromeo]], [[Federico Borromeo]], [[Jacopo Sadoleto]], and [[Gian Matteo Giberti]], to name a few.

Contacts with such illustrious [[Renaissance humanism|humanist]]-reformers and the charismatic Neri brought about a dramatic change in the young Baronio. As a result he switched his main interest from law to [[theology]]. In 1557 Baronio became a member of the [[Congregation of the Oratory]] founded by Philip Neri,<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Caesar-Baronius Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Caesar Baronius". ''Encyclopedia Britannica'']</ref> and was [[ordained]] to the subdiaconate on 21 December 1560 and to the [[diaconate]] on 20 May 1561. Ordination to the [[priesthood]] followed in 1564.<ref name=Peterson/> 

Neri directed Baronius to focus his attention on the study and explanation of Church History. Baronius spent the next few years balancing his studies, lectures, and continued involvement in apostolic work. In 1588, he began to publish the ''Annales''.<ref name=raritan>[https://raritanoratory.org/documents/2019/6/Caesar%20Baronius.pdf "Venerable Caesar Cardinal Baronius, C.O.", Raritan Oratory]</ref> He succeeded Philip Neri as superior of the Roman Oratory in 1593.{{sfn|Taunton|1911}}

[[Pope Clement VIII]], whose confessor he was from 1594, made him a cardinale on 5 June 1596 and also appointed him to head the [[Vatican Library]].{{sfn|Taunton|1911}} Baronio was given the red hat on 8 June and  on 21 June was assigned the title of [[Santi Nereo e Achilleo |Cardinal Priest of Santi Nereo e Achilleo]]. Baronio restored this titular church and in 1597 a procession was held to transfer there a number of relics.<ref>[[Cyriac Pullapilly|Cyriac K. Pullapilly]], ''Caesar Baronius: Counter-Reformation Historian'' (1975), University of Notre Dame Press, p. 77.</ref> Baronius also renovated the Church of [[San Gregorio Magno al Celio]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Touber |first1=Jetze |title=Law, Medicine and Engineering in the Cult of the Saints in Counter-Reformation Rome: The Hagiographical Works of Antonio Gallonio, 1556-1605: The Hagiographical Works of Antonio Gallonio, 1556-1605 |date=30 January 2014 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-26514-1 |page=96 |language=en}}</ref>

At subsequent [[Papal conclave|conclaves]], Baronio was twice considered to be [[papabile]] – the conclaves which in the event elected [[Pope Leo XI]] and [[Pope Paul V]]. On each occasion, Baronio was opposed by [[Spain]] on account of his work "On the [[Monarchy of Sicily]]", in which he supported the [[papal]] claims against those of the Spanish government.{{sfn|Taunton|1911}} In 1602 he commissioned the Oratorio di Santa Silvia in [[San Gregorio Magno al Celio]].<ref>[https://www.turismoroma.it/en/places/oratorio-di-santa-silvia-al-celio "Oratorio di Santa Silvia al Celio", Turismo Roma]</ref>

Baronio's last days were spent in the Oratory at [[Santa Maria in Vallicella]]. He found solace in the humble surroundings of the Oratory and in the company of his fellow religious. There he died on 30 June 1607, and was buried in that same church. He was named  "Venerable", an honor to which [[Pope Benedict XIV]] elevated him in 1745.<ref name=raritan/>

==Works==
Baronio is best known for his ''[[Annales Ecclesiastici]]''. It was after almost three decades of lecturing at [[Santa Maria in Vallicella]] that he was asked by Philip Neri to tackle this work, as an answer to a polemical anti-Catholic historical work, the ''[[Magdeburg Centuries]]''.{{sfn|Taunton|1911}} Baronio was at first unwilling that the task should be given to him and tried to persuade Neri to entrust the work to [[Onofrio Panvinio]], who was already working on a history of the Church. After repeated commands from Neri, however, Baronius changed his mind and spent the rest of his life devoted to this enormous task.

In the ''Annales'', he treats history in strict chronological order and keeps [[theology]] in the background.{{sfn|Taunton|1911}} [[John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton|Lord Acton]] called it "the greatest history of the Church ever written".<ref>[[John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton|Lord Acton]] (1906). [[s:Lectures on Modern History|''Lectures on Modern History'']], "[[s:Lectures on Modern History/The Counter-Reformation|The Counter-Reformation]]", p. 121.</ref> In the ''Annales'', Baronio coined the term "[[Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Age]]" in the Latin form ''saeculum obscurum'',<ref>Baronius, Caesar. ''[[Annales Ecclesiastici]]'', Vol. X. Roma, 1602, p. 647.</ref> to refer to the period between the end of the [[Carolingian Empire]] in 888 and the first inklings of the [[Gregorian Reform]] under [[Pope Clement II]] in 1046.

Notwithstanding its errors, especially in [[Greek history]] where he was obliged to depend upon secondhand information, Baronio's work stands as an honest attempt at historiography. [[Paolo Sarpi|Sarpi]], in urging [[Isaac Casaubon|Casaubon]] to write a refutation of the ''Annales'', warned him never to accuse or suspect Baronio of bad faith.{{sfn|Taunton|1911}}

Baronio also undertook a new edition of the [[Roman Martyrology]] (1586), in the course of his work he applied critical considerations to removed entries he considered implausible for historical reasons, and added or corrected others according to what he found in the sources to which he had access.{{sfn|Taunton|1911}} He is also considered as saying, cited in the context of the controversies about the work of [[Copernicus]] and [[Galileo]], "The Bible teaches us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go."<ref>Cerrato, Edoardo Aldo. [http://www.oratoriosanfilippo.org/galileo-baronio-english.pdf "How to go to Heaven, and not how the heavens go"]</ref> This remark, which probably Baronio (according to some) made in conversation with Galileo, before the controversy, as he died before it, was cited by the latter (without precise attribution) in his ''[[Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina]]'' (1615).

At the time of the [[Venetian Interdict]], Baronio published a pamphlet, ''Paraenesis ad rempublicam Venetam'' (1606). It took a stringent papalist line on the crisis.<ref name="Bouwsma1984">{{cite book|author=William J. Bouwsma|author-link=William J. Bouwsma|title=Venice and the Defense of Republican Liberty: Renaissance Values in the Age of the Counter Reformation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uMLy6Ht7fxEC&pg=PA379|access-date=12 September 2012|date=29 August 1984|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-05221-5|page=379}}</ref> It was answered  in the same year by the ''Antiparaenesis ad Caesarem Baronium'' of [[Nicolò Crasso]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Niccolò Crasso|title=Antiparaenesis ad Caesarem Baronium Cardinalem pro S. Venetia republica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMlEAAAAcAAJ|access-date=12 September 2012|year=1606}}</ref>

==Biographies==
A Latin biography of Baronio by the oratorian Hieronymus Barnabeus (Girolamo Barnabeo or Barnabò) appeared in 1651 as ''Vita Caesaris Baronii''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hieronymus Barnabeus|title=Vita Caesaris Baronii ex congregatione Oratorii S.R.E. Presbyteri cardinalis et Apostolicae Sedis bibliothecarii|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cyGtQAAACAAJ|access-date=12 September 2012|year=1651|publisher=Casoni}}</ref> Another Oratorian, Raymundus Albericus (Raimondo Alberici), edited three volumes of Baronio's correspondence from 1759.<ref>{{cite book|author=Gaetano Moroni|title=Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Xs9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA141|access-date=12 September 2012|year=1846|publisher=Tipografia Emiliana|page=141|language=it}}</ref> There are other biographies by [[Lady Amabel Kerr|Amabel Kerr]] (1898),<ref>Lady Amabel Kerr. [http://www.liturgialatina.org/oratorian/baronius.htm ''The Life of Cesare Cardinal Baronius of the Roman Oratory'', London, 1898]</ref> and by [[Generoso Calenzio]] (''La vita e gli scritti del cardinale Cesare Baronio'', Rome 1907).<ref>{{in lang|it}} [http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/generoso-calenzio_(Dizionario_Biografico)/ treccani.it, ''Calenzio, Generoso''.]</ref> The works of [[Mario Borrelli]] also contributed to the biographia of Baronius.

==Beatification==
Baronio left a reputation for sanctity, which led [[Pope Benedict XIV]] to approve the introductions of his cause for canonization; Baronio was proclaimed "Venerable" on 12 January 1745.<ref name=Peterson/>

In 2007, on the 400th anniversary of his death, a petition was presented by the Procurator General of the Oratory of St Philip Neri.<ref>Zev, Elizabeth. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110608005306/https://zenit.org/article-19105?l=english "A Saintly Chef: Cardinal Baronio's Canonization Cause Revived"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316160914/https://zenit.org/article-19105?l=english |date=2012-03-16 }}</ref> to reopen the cause for his [[canonization]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
{{sfn whitelist |CITEREFPincherle1964}}
{{refbegin}}
* [[Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli]]. "Il cardinale Cesare Baronio. Nel terzo centenario della sua morte," in ''La Scuola Cattolica'' (Monza), XXXVI, 1908, no.&nbsp;12, pp.&nbsp;1–29. (Reprinted with preface and notes by Giuseppe De Luca, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, Roma, 1961)  Roncalli's episcopal motto 'Obedientia et Pax' was taken from Baronio. [Peter Hebblethwaite JOHN XXIII: POPE OF THE CENTURY 2005 edition, p.&nbsp;57.]
*{{cite web|authorlink=Salvador Miranda (historian) |last=Miranda |first=Salvador |title= Biographical Dictionary - Consistory of June 5, 1596 - BARONIO, Orat., Cesare (1538-1607)|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1596.htm#Baronio|work=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church |accessdate=|publisher=[[Florida International University]]|oclc=53276621}}
* {{EB1911 |wstitle = Baronius, Caesar |volume=3 |page=424 |first=Ethelred Luke|last=Taunton|author-link=Ethelred Taunton}}
* {{DBI |title= BARONIO, Cesare |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/cesare-baronio_(Dizionario-Biografico)|last= Pincherle|first= Alberto|volume= 6}}
* {{Catholic|wstitle=Venerable Cesare Baronius}}
{{refend}}

{{Canonization}}
{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Italy }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baronius, Caesar}}
[[Category:1538 births]]
[[Category:1607 deaths]]
[[Category:Historians of the Catholic Church]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian cardinals]]
[[Category:Oratorians]]
[[Category:People from Sora, Lazio]]
[[Category:Italian venerated Catholics]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian historians]]
[[Category:Italian male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian cardinals]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian male writers]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian male writers]]
[[Category:16th-century venerated Christians]]
[[Category:17th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian historians]]