Biography

Cecilia Antonelli is a Lecturer (“Chargée de cours”) at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) and an Affiliated Researcher at the Institut romand des sciences bibliques (IRSB).

Her research focuses on Christian “heresies” and ancient heresiology, the “construction” of memory of Christian origins, the systems of authority in the first Christian centuries, as well as Biblical writings, scriptural testimonia, Christian and Jewish apocryphal literature, and the establishment of the New Testament canon.

Cecilia Antonelli is member of the Association pour l’étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne (AELAC), of the Societas Novi Testamenti Studiorum (SNTS) and of the Société pour l’étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne (SELAC), as well as of the Groupe suisse d’études patristiques / Schweizerische patristische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (GSEP / SPAG) (Département de Patristique et Histoire de l’Église, Université de Fribourg) and of the Conférence universitaire de Suisse occidentale (CUSO).

After studying Classics with a particular focus on Ancient Christianity at the “Roma Tre” University (Bachelor of Classics, 2006; Master in Ancient Philology, Literature and History, 2008), she obtained a PhD in Greek and Roman Civilization and Tradition at the “Roma Tre” University and a PhD in Theology at the University of Geneva (2012), with a thesis in joint supervision. She first worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Geneva (Swiss Confederation Scholarship, 2012–2013), then at the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Section des sciences religieuses (SSR) in Paris (“Doc. Mobility” Scholarship from the SNSF, 2013–2014). She then worked as a research and teaching associate in History of Early Christianity at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Geneva (2014–2017), and then as “Senior SNSF researcher” (Chercheuse FNS Senior) at the University of Lausanne (2017–2023). She was then a Lecturer (“Chargée de cours”) at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) (2023–2024) and at the University of Lausanne (2024–2025).

Her editio princeps of the Acts and Martyrdom of the Apostle Bartholomew in Greek (Weimar Q 729 or “Codex Froehner”), with introduction, Italian translation and commentary, will be published as a volume of the Corpus Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum (CCSA), Brepols, including the text and translation of the ancient Armenian version of this Christian apocryphal text (expected publication: end of 2025).

A monograph which develops and expands the results of her PhD Thesis on the fragments of the early Christian author Hegesippus (2nd century) is being prepared and will be published under the title La mémoire oubliée des originnes chrétienne. Les fragments d’Hégésippe entre histoire et légende (Instrumenta patristica et medioevalia (IPM)), Brepols (expected publication: 2026).

While being “Senior SNSF researcher” (Chercheuse FNS Senior) in the Digital Humanities project “Éditer numériquement la littérature apocryphe chrétienne (ENLAC)”, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), she started preparing the major electronic critical edition of the Lives of the Prophets (BHG 1585-1590) and related texts for the Corpus Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum (CCSA), Brepols.