Alphonsus Ciacconus, also Alonso Ciaconius; Spanish Dominican friar, antiquarian and church historian. Born 1530 or 1540 in Baeza (Andalusia), died Rome 1599. Studied at Baeza from 1544, then at Jaén and Seville. Doctorate in theology 1566. Called to Rome by Pope Pius V from 1567, worked there as Penitentiary of St. Peter. Details of his biography are unclear [6]; [3].
Work and influence
C.’s antiquarian work ranged from ecclesiastical history, especially lives of the Popes and Cardinals, to classical studies in ge…