Angelo Maria Quirini

Quirini (QUERINI), ANGELO MARIA, cardinal and scholar, b. at Venice, March 30, 1680; d. at Brescia, January 6, 1755. In 1696 he entered the Benedictine Order at Florence, and was appointed professor of Sacred Scripture in his monastery in 1705. Five years later he started on an educational journey through Germany, the Netherlands, England, and France. In 1718 the pope appointed him a member of the commission instituted for the revision of the Greek liturgical books and in 1723 named him Bishop of Corfu. A few years later Quirini was transferred to the Bishopric of Brescia and elevated to the cardinalate. He was placed at the head of the Vatican Library in 1730, and became subsequently prefect of the Congregation of the Index. He was elected a member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences in 1747 and of the Berlin Academy the following year. About this time his opposition to the proposed reduction in the number of holy days involved him in a controversy with Muratori, which lasted until Rome enjoined silence on both parties in 1750. His part in the discussions concerning the Patriarchate of Aquileia resulted in his enforced retirement from Rome the following year. Quirini generously contributed from his personal means to the relief of the financial needs of the German missionary districts. His writings include works on the liturgy and history of the Greek Church, the history of the papacy (Paul II), and that of Corfu and Brescia. They also include an edition of Cardinal Pole’s correspondence (Brescia, 1744-57).

N. A. WEBER