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Mario di Calasio

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Mario di Calasio
Commemorative plaque in Calascio
Commemorative plaque in Calascio
Born 1550
Calascio, Kingdom of Naples
Died 1 February 1620 (aged 69–70)
Rome, Papal States
Occupations Franciscan friar, university teacher, orientalist
Known for Concordantiae Sacrorum Bibliorum Hebraicorum
Academic background
Influences Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymus
Academic work
Discipline Hebrew scholar, Ancient Near Eastern Linguist
Sub-discipline Bible scholar
Influenced Luke Wadding
William Romaine
Edward Rowe Mores

Mario di Calasio (1550 in Calascio, Abruzzi, Italy – February 1, 1620 in Ara Coeli) was an Italian Minorite friar.[1]

Biography

Joining the Franciscans at an early age, he devoted himself to Oriental languages and became an authority on Hebrew. Once entering Rome he was appointed by Paul V, whose confessor he was to the chair of Scripture at Ara Coeli. Calasio is known by his Concordantiae sacrorum Bibliorum hebraicorum, published in 4 vols. (Rome, 1622),[2] two years after his death, a work which is based on Nathan's Hebrew Concordance (Venice, 1523).[3]

Works

For forty years Calasio labored on this work, and he secured the assistance of the greatest scholars of his age. The Concordance evinces great care and accuracy. All root-words are treated in alphabetical order and the whole Bible has been collated for every passage containing the word, so as to explain the original idea, which is illustrated from the cognate usages of the Aramaic, Syriac, Rabbinical Hebrew and Arabic. Calasio gives under each Hebrew word the literal Latin translation, and notes any existing differences from the Vulgate and Septuagint readings. An incomplete English translation of the work was published in London by Romaine in 1747. Calasio also wrote a Hebrew grammar, Canones generales linguae sanctatae (Rome, 1616),[4] and the Dictionarium hebraicum (Rome, 1617).[5][3]

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Mario di Calasio — Friar Minor and lexicographer, born at Calasio in the Kingdom of Naples about 1550; died at Rome, 1 February, 1620. Having entered the Franciscan Order, he devoted himself to the study of Hebrew with such success that the pope called him to Rome, where he taught Hebrew in the Franciscan convents of Ara Coeli and San Pietro in Montorio. Calasio enjoyed the special favour of Paul V who made him his confessor and bestowed upon him all the titles and privileges generally accorded to doctors of theology. When he was dying he caused the Passion to be read to him and expired while chanting the Psalms of David in Hebrew. Calasio's reputation as a scholar in the Semitic languages rests mainly upon his "Concordantiae Sacrorum Bibliorum Hebraicorum" which was published at Rome in 1622, two years after his death. Another, though inferior, edition of the same work appeared at London in 1747. Besides this work Calasio wrote a "Dictionarium Hebraicorum" and "Canones Generales linguae sanctae".

APOLLINAIRE in Vig., Dict. de la Bible (Paris, 1899), II, 54-55.

References

  1. Back to citation MARIO da Calascio entry (in Italian) in the Enciclopedia Treccani
  2. Back to citation Mario di Calasio (1622). Concordantiae sacrorum Bibliorum hebraicorum (in Latin). Vol. 1. Retrieved June 6, 2019; Mario di Calasio (1622). Concordantiae sacrorum Bibliorum hebraicorum (in Latin). Vol. 2. Retrieved June 6, 2019; Mario di Calasio (1622). Concordantiae sacrorum Bibliorum hebraicorum (in Latin). Vol. 3. Retrieved June 6, 2019; Mario di Calasio (1622). Concordantiae sacrorum Bibliorum hebraicorum (in Latin). Vol. 4. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Chisholm 1911.
  4. Back to citation Mario di Calasio (1616). Canones generales linguae sanctatae (in Latin). Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  5. Back to citation Mario di Calasio (1617). Dictionarium hebraicum (in Latin). Retrieved June 6, 2019.

Bibliography

Attribution

Donovan, Stephen M. (1908). "Mario di Calasio". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.