BARONIUS, C.ESAn, an eminent Roman Catholic ecclesiastical historian, b. at Sera, in Naples, on the 30th Oct. 1538, and educated at Naples and Rome. He was one of the first pupils of St. Philip Neri, who founded the congregation of the Oratory, of which B. became superior in 1593. He soon after became father confessor to the pope, apostolical prothonotary, and finally, in 1596, cardinal, and librarian of the Vatican library. On the death of Clement VIII., in 1605,_ 80 voted in conclave for the election of B. 'as pope.; and but for the opposition of the Spaniards, who were indignant at him for his treatise De AfonarcIda &Mite, in which he argued against Spain's claim to that country, he might have been elected. The controversy against the work called the .ifugdeburg Centuries (q.v.), which had already been weakly attempted by Muzio in 1570, seemed at that time the most important undertaking for the learning of the church of Borne. B. entered upon this controversy with great energy and in a position most favorable for access to authorities, composing his Annales Lcclesiastici a Christ° nato ad ann. 1198 (12 vols., Rome, 1588-1607), in which work he labored till his death, 30th May, 1607. As his object was to prove that the church of Rome has not departed in • doctrine or constitution from the Christian church of the 1st c., B. has been accused of
not using his authorities according to their proper historical sense, but artfully conceal ing, obscuring, and falsifying many things—sometimes, perhaps, from ignorance of the Greek, but more frequently with design. His Annals have been frequently reprinted, but. the reprints are often incorrect and incomplete. The most recent, provided with copious notes, etc., and containing Pagi's Critical Examination and Rinaldi's continua tion, although not vet entirely correct, is the edition of Mansi (43 vols. 1738-57). The Criticsin Annales'Ecelesiasticos Barotzii of Anthony Pagi, the Franciscan (4 vols., Ant werp, 1705, improved by Francis Pagi, Antwerp, 1724), corrects 13. in many points, especially of chronology. the continuation of the Annals, all of which are inferior in value to the work itself, the most rich in matter are that of Bzovius, extend ing to 1572 (9 volt.. Rome, 1616-72), and that of Rina (10'vols:, Rome, 1646-77), who availed hithself of the materials left by B., for the period from 1198 to 1571. Amongst the other works of B., his publication of the .21farlyrologium Romanum deserves to be noticed (Rome, 1586, and repeatedly).