[1] Giovanni Pietro Maffei was born at Bergamo about 1536; he was for a time professor at Genoa, became in 1564 secretary of the government at that place, and in 1565 joined the Jesuits, among whom he gained a great reputation.

At the request of Gregory XIII he wrote a history of the reign of that pope, which remained in MS. until 1743, when it was published at Rome by Carlo Coquelines.

A History of India, written by request of cardinal Henry, was published without Maffei's name, though he was its author.

Petri Maffeii Bergomatis e Societate Iesu opera omnia Latine scripta, nunc primum in unum corpus collecta (Verona, 1747, 2 vols.

This article incorporates public domain material from McClintock, John; Strong, James (1867–1887).