Ignazio Danti

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Most Reverend

Ignazio Danti
Bishop of Alatri
Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti de Nuce
Personal details
BornApril 1536
Perugia, Papal States
Died10 October 1586 (age 50)
Alatri, Papal States

Ignazio (or Egnazio) Danti,

Bishop of Alatri (1583–1586).[1]

Early life

Euclid's Optica, translated by Danti

Danti was born in

Perugino and also wrote a commentary on Euclid. His older brother Vincenzo Danti became one of the leading court sculptors of late-sixteenth-century Florence, while his younger brother Girolamo Danti
(1547–1580) became a local painter.

Danti entered the Dominican Order on 7 March 1555, changing his baptismal name from Pellegrino to Ignazio. After completing his studies in philosophy and theology he spent some time preaching but soon devoted himself zealously to mathematics, astronomy, and geography.[2]

In Florence

In 1562, he requested a transfer from the Dominican compound in Perugia to the monastery of San Marco in

Pius V, who belonged to the Dominicans, is said to have commissioned Danti to furnish plans for the construction of a Dominican church and convent at Bosco Marengo in Piedmont; Danti acted mainly as an adviser. During his stay in Florence, Danti taught mathematics[2]
and published a number of scientific treatises, mostly commentaries on ancient and medieval astronomy and mathematics or explanations of how to use scientific instruments.

armillary sphere, Santa Maria Novella

For much of his time in Florence, Danti resided at the convent of Santa Maria Novella, and designed the quadrant and the armillary sphere that appear on the end blind arches of the lower facade of the church in 1572 and 1574, on the right and left respectively. He also designed a large-scale gnomon for the church which allowed a thin beam of light to enter the church at noon each day through a hole just beneath the facade's rose window,[3] although it probably was not completed by the time Danti left Florence.

In 1574, Danti used his instruments to calculate the time of the March equinox, an important date for calculating the date of Easter. He discovered that it was 11 days out, falling on the 11 March rather than the 22 March, and he became a leading figure in proposing the reforms that lead to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1582.[4]

There were also discussions between the Duke and Danti about building a

Francesco de' Medici, compelled Danti to leave Florence.[4]
It is not known precisely why Francesco exiled Danti, but the Dominican had no trouble finding work or patrons anywhere else in Italy, although he never returned to Florence.

Later life and bishopric

After leaving Florence, Danti became a professor of mathematics at the

San Petronio, the meridian line of which is still visible on the church's pavement.[citation needed
] He also spent some time in Perugia, at the invitation of the governor, where he prepared maps of the Perugian republic.

Gallery of Maps - Vatican Museums

On account of his mathematical skills,

Gallery of Maps along the Cortile del Belvedere
. This project, begun in early 1580 and completed about 18 months later, mapped the entirety of the Italian peninsula in 40 large-scale frescoes, each depicting a region as well as a perspective view of its most prominent city.

When the pontiff commissioned the architect

co-consecrators
.

Danti showed himself a zealous pastor in his new office. As Bishop of Alatri, Danti convoked a diocesan

Bishop of Stagno (1584). Shortly before his death Pope Sixtus V summoned him to Rome to assist in the erection of the grand Vatican obelisk
in the piazza of the Vatican.

Besides the works already mentioned, Danti was the author of Trattato del'uso e della fabbrica dell'astrolabo con la giunta del planifero del Raja; Le Scienze matematiche ridotte in tavole, also a revised and annotated edition of La Sfera di Messer G. Sacrobosco tradotta da Pier Vincenzio Danti. The first mentioned work deals with the use and construction of the astrolabe and is one of the oldest instructions for scientific instruments. Danti wrote the first Italian treatise on this topic to accompany the book.[5]

Danti died at Alatri on 10 October 1586,[6] three years into his service.

Works

  • Dell'uso et della fabbrica dell'astrolabio (in Italian). Firenze: Giunta. 1578.
  • Anemographia (in Latin). Bologna: Giovanni Rossi. 1578.

See also

Scienze matematiche ridotte in tavole, 1577
  • List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics

References

  1. ^ a b Eubel, Konrad (1923). HIERARCHIA CATHOLICA MEDII ET RECENTIORIS AEVI Vol III (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. pp. 99. (in Latin)
  2. ^ a b c Brock, Henry. "Ignazio Danti." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 15 December 2022 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ISBN 0674005368
    .
  4. ^ a b c d O'Connor, John J, and Robertson, Edmund F., "Egnatio Pellegrino Rainaldi Danti", MacTutor, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland, November 2002
  5. ^ Ralf Kern, Wissenschaftliche Instrumente in ihrer Zeit, Vol. 1, Cologne: Koenig, 2010, p. 318.
  6. ^ "Bishop Ignazio (Pellegrino) Danti, O.P." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved January 4, 2017

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Ignazio Danti". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

External links and additional sources

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Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Stefano Bonucci
Bishop of Alatri

1583–1586 		Succeeded by
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