Peter Ambarach
Peter Ambarach (1663–1742) was a Maronite priest and a pioneer of printing in Semitic languages, operating for the Catholic church from Florence.[1]
Biography
Ambarach was born in Batha, Lebanon in 1663. From 1672 to 1685, he was educated at the Marionite College in Rome. He returned to Syria in 1685, where he was ordained as a priest.
He returned to Rome in 1691 to represent the Maronite Church in a legal dispute.[2] After completing this assignment, he was commissioned by Cosimo III de' Medici to organize a Semitic-language printing establishment in Florence. His goal there was to prepare and print Semitic-language editions of theological manuscripts for the Palatina Library at Parma and the Laurentian Library at Florence.[2] Soon after, he was designated the chair of Hebrew at the University of Pisa.[2] In 1708, he became a member of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits.
Shortly after he joined the Jesuit order, Pope Clement XI appointed him to a commission intended to organize the printing of a corrected edition of the Septuagint. His most notable work is a collected edition of the works of St. Ephrem the Syrian, a prolific writer in the Syriac language, with accompanying Latin translation. He had only published two volumes of this collection when he died in 1742. The third volume was completed by Stephen Assemani.
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Peter Ambarach, Peter (also called Benedictus and Benedetti, these names being the equivalents of the Arabic ambarak "blessed"), a Maronite Orientalist, b. at Gusta, Syria, June, 1663; d. in Rome, 25 August, 1742. He was educated by the Jesuits in the Maronite college in Rome, 1672–85, and on his return to Syria in the latter year was ordained priest. Having been sent to Rome on business concerning the Maronite Church, he was requested by Cosmo III de Medici to organize an Oriental printing establishment at Florence, and then was given the chair of Hebrew at Pisa. In 1708 he entered the Society of Jesus. Shortly after this Clement XI appointed him a member of the commission charged to bring out a corrected edition of the Septuagint. His chief work is an edition of the Syriac works of St. Ephrem with Latin translation, of which, however, he had only published two volumes when death overtook him; the third was completed by Stephen Assemani.
Sommervogel, Bib. de la c. de Jésus (Paris, 1890), I, 1295.
References
- Back to citation "Catholic Encyclopedia: Peter Ambarach". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Back to citation occurrence 2.2 O'Neill, Charles E. (2001-01-01). Diccionario histórico de la Compañía de Jesús: AA-Costa Rica (in Spanish). Univ Pontifica Comillas. p. 406. ISBN 9788484680376.