Allegranza, Joseph
ALLEGRANZA, JOSEPH
Theologian, archeologist; b. Milan, 1713; d. there, 1785. He belonged to the Milanese Dominican monastery of San Eustorgio and took the habit at Brescia in 1731. After teaching theology at Novara and Vercelli, he took his doctorate in theology at Rome in 1746. He then directed his efforts particularly to archeological researches. His extensive travels in Italy, southern France, and on the Island of Malta provided him with many archeological finds as well as useful friendships. After 1755 he lived almost entirely at Milan, where in 1765 he had the responsibility for cataloging the Pertusati library. For this he was awarded a gold medal from the Empress Maria Theresa. Among his numerous writings of a historical–archeological and antiquarian nature are: Spiegazione, e riflessioni sopra alcuni sacri monumenti antichi di Milano (Milan 1757); De sepulcris christianis in aedibus sacris (Milan 1773); and Opusculi eruditi latini ed italiani (Cremona 1781).
Bibliography: r. coulon, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912—) 2:489–493. g. ferretto, Note storico–bibliografiche di archeologia cristiana (Vatican City 1942) 280–282, 339.
[a. l. redigonda]