PANVINIO, ONOFRIO

Antiquarian and historian; b. Verona, February 24, 1530; d. Palermo, April 7, 1568. Pavinio entered the Augustinian Order in his native city in 1541. In 1547 he was sent to Naples for studies, and in 1549, to Rome. While his first research was concerned with Roman antiquity, he also began to study church history. At the request of the Augustinian prior general, seripando, he compiled a chronicle of the order's history, published anonymously with the Augustinian Constitutions (Rome 1551). From 1554 until his death he was employed in the service of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.

His Romani Pontifices et Cardinales (Venice 1557) aligned the sequence of the popes and cardinals. Among his works on Roman themes, the Fastorum Libri V (Venice 1558), which set in order the Roman consuls and emperors, was the most significant. He revised and updated Platina's Lives of the Popes (Venice and Cologne 1562; and Venice 1568). This work, accompanied by his ecclesiastical chronicle, was reissued in the original Latin and in translation up to the 18th century. A book of portraits of 27 popes from Urban VI to Pius V (Rome 1568) set the pattern for similar works. Major works, found only in manuscript, include a history of papal elections in ten volumes and the lives of the popes and cardinals, richly illustrated with portraits, coats-of-arms, and seals. At his premature death he left many incomplete works, including a history of the Church, intended to refute the centuriators of magdeburg, and a projected work on Roman antiquities in 100 volumes. His defense of the primacy of the papacy (Verona 1589) and other works have been edited posthumously up to recent times.

With the authorization of Pius IV, Panvinio visited sites throughout Italy to collect documents, inscriptions, and illustrations. Among his correspondents he counted leading scholars of the day: Antonio Agustín, Carlo Sigonio, Ottavio Pantagatho, Piero Vettori, and Vincenzio Borghini. Angelo Massarelli, secretary of the Council of Trent, supplied him with material derived from the papal archives. Although some writings betray hasty composition and lack of mature judgment, they preserve important sources. His descriptions of Roman churches remain valuable for art historians. His indefatigable labors in unearthing and organizing vast amounts of historical material have merited the admiration of later scholars, and Paul Fridolin Kehr notes that the history of papal diplomatics begins with Panvinio and Massarelli.

Bibliography: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, 7: 1486–1489. k. a. gersbach, "Onofrio Panvinio's De comitiis imperatoriis and Its Successive Revisions: Biographical Background and Manuscripts," Analecta Augustiniana 53 (1990): 410–452; "Onofrio Panvinio and Cybo Family Pride in His Treatment of Innocent VIII and in the XXVII Pontificum Maximorum Elogia et Imagines, " Analecta Augustiniana 54 (1991): 117–141; "Onofrio Panvinio, OSA, and His Florentine Correspondents Vincenzio Borghini, OSB, Pietro Vettori, Francesco de' Medici," Analecta Agustiniana 60 (1997): 207–280. j.-l. ferrary, Onofrio Panvinio et les Antiquités Romaines (Rome 1996). d. a. perini, Onofrio Panvinio e le sue opere (Rome, 1899); Bibliographia Augustiniana, 4 vols. (Florence 1929–1938) 3:53–65.

[k. a. gersbach]