Sarnelli, Pompey

, a learned Italian prelate, was born at Polignano in 1649, and studied principally at Naples. He commenced his career as an author about 1668, and published some pieces connected with grammar and polite literature. In 1675, after he had been admitted to priest’s orders, pope Clement X. made him honorary prothonotary; and in 1679, he was appointed grand vicar to cardinal Orsini, and obtained other preferment in the church. He died in 1724. He was the author of above thirty works, enumerated by Niceron and Moreri, of which we may mention, “Lettere ecclesiastiche,” in 9 vols. 4to “II Clero secolare nel suo Splendore, overo della vita commune clericale” “Bestiarum Schola ad Homines erudiendos ab ipsa rerum natura provide instituta, &c. decem et centum Lectionibus explicata;” “Memorie Cronologiche de* Vescovi et Arcivescovi di Benevento, con la serie de Duchi e Principi Longobardi nella stessa citta;” and the lives of Baptista Porta, Boldoni, &c. He sometimes wrote under assumed names, as Solomon Lipper, Esopus Primnellius, &c. ¹