Cassani (also Casani), Joseph, b. at Madrid, 26 March, 1673, entered the Society of Jesus, 16 Nov., 1686, was still in active exercise of priestly functions in 1745, and d. in 1750. He was one of the founders of the Academia de la Lengua española at Madrid, and published there a “Diccionario de la Lengua Castellana” in 1726-1730, in six volumes. He was a very prolific writer. Among his works may be noted: “ Admirable vida, singulares virtudes etc. del extdtico Varon P: Dionisio Rickel” (Madrid, 1738); “ Varones ilustres de la Compafiia de Jesus”; “Escuela militar de fortificacion”; “Tratado de la naturaleza y origen de los cometas” (Madrid, 1737). He was a member of the Academia from 6 July, 1713. Although he never visited. America, he appeals particularly to Americans through his “Historia de la Provincia de la Compafiia de Jesus del Nuevo Reyno de Granada en la América” (Madrid, 1741), the only regular chronicle of the Jesuit Order in Colombia thus far extant. The fact that Cassani was never in the New World detracts somewhat from the usefulness of this otherwise valuable history, as far as ethnologic and ethnographic data are concerned; otherwise it is a conscientious and earnest work, giving interesting data, chiefly of the missions in the upper Orinoco basin. The work is exceedingly rare.
Sommervogel-de Backer, Bibl. des écriv. de la c. de J.; Diccionario hispano-americano; Sauvd, Catalogo de la Biblioteca de Salva (Valencia, 1874); Acosta, Compendio hist. del Descub. y Coloniz., de la Nueva Granada (Paris, 1848); BRINTON, The American Race (New York, 1891).
Ad. F. Bandelier.