Mittarelli, Giovanni Benedetto

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MITTARELLI, GIOVANNI BENEDETTO

Camaldolese author and administrator; b. Venice, Sept. 2, 1707; d. Abbey of S. Michele di Murano, near Venice, Aug. 14, 1777. Mittarelli's field of activity as priest and scholar was limited to his own camaldolese Order, which he joined in 1722. In 1747 he came to Faenza as chancellor of the order and there began, together with Anselmo Costadoni (d. 1785), the Annales Camaldulenses ordinis S. Benedicti. This is his chief work, and it is patterned entirely after mabillon and embraces the period from 907 to 1764. It appeared in nine volumes in Venice from 1754 to 1773. Mittarelli returned as abbot in 1760 to his home monastery of S. Michele di Murano; in 1765 he went to Rome as abbot general of his order. During his five-year stay there, he was a favorite of Pope clement xiii, a native of Venice.

Bibliography: Works. Ad Scriptores rerum Italicarum cl. Muratorii accessiones historicae Faventinae (Venice 1771); De literatura Faventinorum Appendix ad Accessiones historicas Faventinas (Venice 1775); Bibliotheca codicum manuscriptorum monasterii S. Michaelis Venetiarum prope Murianum (Venice 1779). Literature. a. fabroni, Vitae Italorum doctrina excellentium, 18 v. (Pisa 177899). p. paschini, Enciclopedia Italiana di scienzi, littere ed arti, 36 v. (Rome 192939) 23:487. h. kiene, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, 10 v. (Freiburg 1957) 7:493.

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