Guarino Guarini (1624-1683) was an Italian architect, priest, and philosopher, whose mathematical studies enabled him to create the most fantastic of all baroque churches.

Guarino Guarini was born in Modena on Jan. 17, 1624. He joined the austere new Theatine order in 1639 and went to Rome for his novitiate. This was during the period when the architect Francesco Borromini was most active. Guarini studied philosophy and theology--and apparently also architecture--before returning to Modena in 1647, where he was ordained, began to work as an architect, and taught in the Theatine house until a disagreement with the ruling Este family in 1655 forced him to leave.

Guarini was in Messina, Sicily, in 1660; his works there were destroyed in the 1908 earthquake. He was back in Modena by 1662, and soon afterward he went to Paris, where he taught, wrote on philosophy and mathematics, and designed Ste-Anne-la-Royale. This church is now known only from engravings, but...