Camillus Tarquini

Cardinal, Jesuit canonist and archaeologist, b. at Marta in the diocese of Montefiascone, Italy, 27 Sept., 1810; d. at Rome, 15 Feb., 1874. Tarquini entered the Society of Jesus on 27 Aug., 1837, but before his entrance he had published, as a thesis for his doctorate, a work on canon law: "Institutionum juris canonici tabulae synopticae juxta ordinem habitum a Joanne Devote" (Rome, 1835). As a professor, Tarquini held the chair of canon law at the Roman College, and he attracted notice by his masterly explanations of Sacred Scripture at the Gesu. Besides his published works, he contributed many articles to reviews, notably to the "Civilta Cattolica". It is principally as a canonist that he achieved fame. His first work on the law of the Church to bring him into international celebrity was that on the Regium Placet, or Exequatur, for papal Bulls (Rome, 1851), which was translated into German, Spanish, and French. This treatise is generally published as an appendix to his main work on canon law: "Juris ecclesiastici publici institutiones" (Rome, 1862), which has gone through fourteen editions. The work was translated into French (Brussels, 1868). Other works on canon law are his treatise on the French Concordat of 1801 (Rome, 1871), and a disquisition on the Pauline Privilege (published posthumously in 1888).

Though best known, perhaps, as a canonist, Tarquini was also an archaeologist of no mean repute, especially on matters relating to the ancient Etruscans of Italy. His earliest archaeological treatise is "Breve commento di antiche iscrizioni appartenenti alla citta di Fermo" (1847). He began the Etruscan series of his works specifically with "Dichiarazione dell' epigrafe del lampadario di Cortona" (1862), which was soon followed by a more general treatise: "Dizzertazioni intorno ad alcuni monumenti etruschi" (Rome, 1862). The "Civilta Cattolica" of 1857 and 1858 contains many of Tarquini's articles on Etruscan antiquities, the most noted being: "Origini italiche e principalmente etruschi rivelate dei nomi geografici" (Ser. 3, Vol. VI); "I misteri della lingua etrusca" (Vol. VIII); "Iscrizioni etrusche in monumenti autofoni" (Vol. IX); "Di vasi etruschi divinatorii" (Vol. X); "Iscrizione etrusca di Perugia" (Vol. XI); and "Sopra il semitismo della lingua etrusca" (Ser. 4, Vol. VII). He also wrote an Etruscan grammar and a dictionary of the Etruscan language. Other archaeological treatises are' "Della iscrizione della cattedra Alessandrina di San Marco" (1868), and "De L'origine des pheniciens et leur identite avec les Pasteurs qui envahirent l'Egypte" (1870). Tarquini was a member of the Pontifical Roman Academy of Archaeology and of the Imperial and Royal Academy of Science of Lucca. He was also president of the historical and archaeological sections of the Accademia de' Quiriti. He was raised to the cardinalate by Pius IX with the diaconal title of St. Nicholas at the Tullian Prison on 22 Dec., 1873, only a few months before his death.

Enjoy Daily Readings? Pay it Forward