Allatius, Leo
Allatius, Leo
(Alacci).
A learned Greek of the seventeenth century, b. on the island of Chios in 1586, and d. at Rome, 19 January, 1669. He entered the Greek college at Rome in 1600, spent three years in Lucania with his countryman, Bishop Bernard Giustiniani, and then returned to Chios where he proved of great assistance to the Latin Bishop, Marco Giustiniani. In 1616, he received the degree Doctor of Medicine from the Sapienza, was made Scriptor in the Vatican Library, and later, professor of rhetoric at the Greek College, a position which he held for only two years. Pope Gregory XV sent him to Germany, in 1622, to bring to Rome the Palatinate library of Heidelberg, which Maximilian had presented to the Pope in return for war subsidies, a task which he accomplished in the face of great difficulties. In the death of Gregory XV (1623) Allatius lost his principal patron; but with the support of influential churchmen, he continued his researches especially upon the Palatinate manuscripts. Alexander VII made him custodian of the Vatican library in 1661, where he remained till his death. With untiring energy Allatius combined a vast erudition, which he brought to bear upon literary, historical, philosophical, and theological questions. He laboured earnestly to effect the reconciliation of the Greek Church with that of Rome and to this end wrote his most important work, “De Ecclesiae Occidentalisatque Orientalis perpetua consensione” (Cologne, 1648), in which the points of agreement between the Churches are emphasized, while their differences are minimized. He also edited or translated into Latin the writings of various Greek authors, corresponded with the foremost scholars of Europe, contributed as editor to the “Corpus Byzantinorum” (Paris), and arranged for the Publication of a “Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum”. He bequeathed his manuscripts about 150 volumes) and his correspondence (over 1,000 letters) to the library of the Oratorians in Rome.
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GRADIUS, Life in MAI, Bibliotheca Nova Patrum (Rome, 1853), VI; LEGRAND, Bibliographie hellenique du XVII siecle (Paris, 1893); THEINER, Die Schenkung der Heidelb. Bibl. (Munich, 1844); LAMMER, DeLeonis Allatii Codicibus (Freiburg, 1864); HERGENROTHER, in Kirchenlex.
FRANCIS W. GRAY Transcribed by Karen S. Williams Dedicated to the memory of Father Francis McGuire, SJ
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Allatius, Leo
(Leo Allacci in Italian), was born in 1586 of Greek parents in the island of Chio, went to Rome in 1600, and studied at the Greek College in that city. When his course of studies was completed, Bernard Justiniani, bishop of Anglona, selected him for his grand-vicar. In 1621 Pope Gregory XV sent him into Germany to bring to Rome the Palatinate Library of Heidelberg, and Alexander VII made him librarian of the Vatican in 1661. He died Jan. 19, 1669, aged eighty-three, having founded several colleges in his native island. According to Niceron, he was indefatigable in his labors, and possessed a prodigious memory, stored with every kind of knowledge, but he wanted judgment and critical acumen. A list of his writings may be found in Niceron, Memoires, 8, 10. The most important of them are,
1. De Ecclesioe Occident. et Orient. Perpetuad Consensione (Cologne, 1648, 4to):
2. De utriusque Eccl. etc. in dogmate de Purgatorio Consensione (Rome, 1655, 8vo):
3. De Libris Eccl. Graecorum (Paris, 1645, 8vo):
4. De Templis Graecorum recentioribus (Cologne, 1645, 8vo):
5. Groecioe Orthodoxoe Scriptores (Rome, 1652, 2 vols. 4to):
6. De Octavo Synodo Photiana (Francf. 1666, 4to).