Barnabite Origins 3. Anthony Mary Zaccaria - Writings 5. Editions of the Writings

St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria [by Cristina Bellazzi]

Up to the beginning of our century, practically the only source that put Barnabites and Angelics in touch with the spirituality of their Founder was the apocryphal Detti Notabili. First edited, as we said, in Venice in 1583 by ex-Barnabite Folperto, it was reedited eleven times, including the Florence edition of 1936 by eminent Barnabite bibliographer, Giuseppe Boffito (1869-1944). Besides Detti Notabili, only the Letters were published but in a random and incomplete fashion. The first one to publish, in Latin, some of the Letters was Father Anacleto Secco, in 1682, in Milan. These were: Letter 2, Letter 3, part of Letter 6, and Letter 11. The same letters were retranslated from Latin into Italian by Father Francesco Luigi Barelli, in 1703, in Bologna. Afterwards, most of the Letters were published by the major biographers of Anthony Mary: Mariano Alpruni, Rome, 1815: Letter 3; Alessandro Maria Teppa, Moncalieri, 1853: Letter 2, Letter 3, Letter 5, Letter 10, Letter 11; Francesco Tranquillino Moltedo, Florence, 1897: Letter 2, Letter 4, Letter 5, Letter 6, Letter 8, Letter 9, Letter 10, Letter 11; Guy Chastel, Paris, 1930: Letter 3, part of Letter 5, Letter 6, Letter 7, Letter 8, Letter 9, Letter 10, Letter 11; Orazio Premoli, Rome, 1913: Letter 9 and Letter 11; Giuseppe Boffito, Florence, 1937, published a critical edition of Letter 2. Special significance must be attributed to the publication of Letter 11, in 1697, in Florence, where Barnabite Cardinal Jacopo Antonio Morigia was bishop. The letter was presented as written by "Blessed Father Anthony Mary Zaccaria," and the publication carried the approval of the proper Superiors. In 1634, it will be remembered, Anthony Mary lost the title of Blessed because of Urban VIII’s new canonization decree. The public and authorized use of the title fifty-three years later goes to prove the authenticity of popular devotion to Anthony Mary. In 1894, in Paris, the entire corpus of the Letters was published in French by Father Ignazio Pica. The entire original text of the Letters was published for the very first time by Father Orazio Premoli, in Rome, in 1909. In 1948 Father Achille Desbuquoit published a second French edition in Kain, Belgium. At last, after an accurate textual revision, all Letters were published in Bologna in 1952 by Father Giuseppe Cagni, on behalf of the Barnabite Community of "San Luigi School," as part of "Collana di Spiritualità Barnabitica" (Collection of Barnabite Spirituality). In 1991, Father Franco Monti edited the first translation of the Letters in contemporary Italian. The entire corpus of the Sermons was published for the first time by Father Salvatore De Ruggiero as an appendix to his Italian translation of Anthony Mary’s French biography by Guy Chastel, (Brescia, 1933). Unfortunately, he utilized a seriously flawed copy from the General Archives. In 1952, Fathers Giuseppe Cagni and Franco Ghilardotti prepared a critical edition which was published in the Archivio Italiano per la storia della pietà, Vol. 2, Rome, 1957. The popular edition published as the second volume of "Collection of Barnabite Spirituality," Bologna, 1952, is based on that critical edition. The third volume of the same collection was the Constitutions, Bologna, 1954. The entire corpus of Anthony Mary’s writings was published by Father Virginio Colciago, in Rome, in 1975. It is based on the text of the above-mentioned "Collection of Barnabite Spirituality." In 1996, Fathers Enrico Sironi and Franco Monti published another one-volume edition in Italian, a literal copy of the Bologna edition of the 1950’s. Unfortunately, a definitive, exhaustive, critical edition of the writings is still lacking. A Spanish edition was published in Santiago, Chile, in 1983-84. A Portuguese edition was published in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. A working edition in English of all Anthony Mary’s writings was edited by Father Frank Papa in Manila, Philippines, in 1991. The present accurate English translation of all the writings aims primarily at familiarizing the North American public with the personality and spirituality of St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria.

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