Born at Saorgio, near Nice, in 1734; died at Rome, July, 1794. He entered the Dominican Order, and soon attracted attention by his taste for books and his talent for the exact sciences. After being occupied in various houses as professor and bibliographer, he was at length transferred to the Dominican house of studies (S. Maria sopra Minerva), and was placed in charge (1765) of the great Bibliotheca Casanatensis, founded in 1700 by Cardinal Girolamo Casanata. Audiffredi published a bibliographical work in four folio, volumes entitled "Catalogus bibliotheca Casanatensis librorum typis impressorum, 1761-1788". The work remains unfinished, not proceeding beyond the letter L, and contains a list of his own publications. Similar works were the "Catalogus historico-criticus Romanarum editionum saeculi XV" (Rome, 1785, quarto), and the more extensively planned "Catalogus historico-criticus editionum Italicarum saeculi XV" (ibid., 1794,), which was to give an account of books printed in twenty-six Italian cities. Audiffredi did not live to complete the work. The first part, extending to the letter G, contains a short biography of the author introduced by the publisher. Audiffredi's position enabled him to become an expert antiquarian, and he found time to cultivate his mathematical talent and to devote himself to astronomy. He built a small observatory, and at intervals busied himself with observation. The eighteenth century was much occupied with the problem of solar parallax. In 1761 and 1769 transits of Venus were observed, and Audiffredi contributed to the work in his publication, "Phaenomena coelestia observata—investigatio parallaxis solis. Exercitatio Dadei Ruffi" (anagram for Audiffredi). The predicted reappearance in the middle of the century of Halley's comet intensified scientific interest in cometic orbits. The epoch was favored with a number of brilliant objects of this kind, and that of 1769 distinguished itself by its great nucleus and by the tail which stretched over more than half the sky. Audiffredi took observations of the positions of the comet and published his results under the title, "Dimostrazione della stazione della cometa, 1769" (1770). A general taste and capacity for the natural sciences distinguished this learned Dominican, but, like that of many savants, Audiffredi's life was one of retirement and obscurity.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online