or QUIRINI, ANGELO MARIA, a learned cardinal, was born at Venice in 1680, and was educated at the college of the Jesuits in Brescia. The early part of his career was devoted to the enthusiastic study of letters. Setting down in Florence at the age of seventeen, as a Benedictine monk, he availed himself of every means to satisfy his craving for knowledge. His quiet hours within the walls of the abbey were engrossed with the cultivation of the liberal sciences. His intervals of recreation in the city were passed in the society of some of the most learned men of the day. The progress of time only increased his literary ardour. Bent upon seeing the world, and upon holding personal converse with the great spirits of the age, he set out in 1710 on a tour through Europe. He passed through Germany, the Netherlands, England, and France, visiting the chief literary men of each country; and returned home in 1714, greatly advanced both in acquirements and in reputation. With a mind so thoroughly cultivated, Querini could scarcely fail to attract the interest of the Holy See. Accordingly, in no long time there was opened up before him a way of promotion to some of the highest offices in the church. In 1723 he was appointed archbishop of Corfu. In 1728 he was translated to the see of Brescia, and created a cardinal. Not long afterwards the office of librarian of the Vatican was conferred upon him. He would also have been promoted to the lucrative bishopric of Padua, had he not preferred to spend his remaining days among his attached Brescian diocessans. Cardinal Querini, in his high position, now proved himself a beneficent patron of learning. He founded and endowed a public library at Brescia. He presented one large collection of books, and another of medals, to the library of the Vatican. Nor was his liberality at all influenced by party feelings. Authors of every class found him ready to supply them with books, manuscripts, and notes, for the composition of their works. In fact he had come to be recognised throughout Europe as a benefactor in the world of letters, when he was suddenly cut off by apoplexy in 1755.

The following is a list of Querini's most important works:

- Primordia Coreyrae, 4to, Brescia, 1738; Specimen Literature Brixiana, 4to, Brescia, 1739; Pauli II, Vita, 4to, Rome, 1740; and a selection of his own letters, in ten books, 4to, Brescia, 1742-49.