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Joseph Simeon
Born in the Mountains of Lebanon, 1687; died
at
Rome,
January, 1768. In 1703, he entered the
Maronite
College,
Rome,
to study for the
priesthood.
Soon after his
ordination
he was given a post in the Vatican Library,
and in 1715-17 sent by
Clement XI
to the East for the purpose of collecting
Oriental
manuscripts;
he accomplished his task successfully,
visiting Cairo,
Damascus,
Aleppo,
Mount Lebanon, and especially the Nitrian
desert.
He brought these
manuscripts
to
Rome,
and they were placed by order of the Pope in
the Vatican Library, where they formed the
nucleus of its subsequently famous
collection of Oriental
manuscripts.
In 1735-38 he was sent again to the East,
and returned with a still more valuable
collection. On his return, he was made
titular
Archbishop
of
Tyre
and Librarian of the Vatican Library, where
he devoted the rest of his life to carrying
out a most extensive plan for editing and
publishing the most valuable Syriac, Arabic,
Ethiopic,
Armenian,
Persian,
Hebrew, and Greek
manuscripts,
treasures of the Vatican. His published
works are very numerous, besides others
(about one hundred in number) which he left
in
manuscript
form. The majority of these, however, were
destroyed by a fire, which, in 1768, broke
out in his Vatican apartment, adjacent to
the Library. His published works are the
following: — (1) "Bibliotheca Orientalis
Clementino-Vaticana in qua manuscriptos
codices Syriacos, Arabicos, Persicos,
Turcicos, Hebraicos, Samaritanos, Armenicos,
Aethiopicos, Graecos, Aegyptiacos, Ibericos
et Malabaricos. . .Bibliothecae Vaticante
addictos recensuit, digessit Josephus
Simonius Assemanus" (Rome, 4 vols. fol.,
1719-28). This gigantic work, of which only
the first four volumes appeared, was to
comprise twelve volumes, of which the
unpublished ones were as follows: Vol.
V, "De Syriacis sacrarum Scripturarum
versionibus"; Vol. VI, "De libris
ecclesiasticis Syrorum"; Vol.
VII, "De Conciliorum collectionibus Syriacis";
Vol. VIII, "De collectionibus Arabicis";
Vol. IX, "De Scriptoribus Graecis in
Syriacum et Arabicum conversis"; Vol. X, "De
Scriptoribus Arabicis Christianis"; Vols. XI
and XII, "De Scriptoribus Arabicis
Mahometanis." Considerable preparation for
these unpublished volumes was made by the
author, a portion of which was destroyed by
fire. The four published volumes are divided
as follows: Vol. I, "De Scriptoribus Syris
orthodoxis"; Vol. II, "De Scriptoribus Syris
monophysitis"; Vol. III, "Catalogus
Ebedjesus Sobensis" (of
Nestorian
writers); Vol. IV, "De Syris Nestorianis." —
(2) "Ephraemi Syri opera omnia quae extant
graece, syriace et latine," six volumes,
folio. The first three volumes were edited
by our author, the fourth and the fifth by
the
Maronite
Jesuit
Mubarak, or Benedictus, and the sixth by
Stephanus Evodius Assemani (see below). —
(3) "Italicae historiae scriptores ex
bibliothecae Vaticanae aliarumque insignium
bibliothecarum manuscriptis codicibus
collegit," etc., four volumes, folio (Rome
1751-53). — (4) "Kalendaria ecclesiae
universae," etc., to consist of twelve
volumes, of which only the first six
appeared (Rome, 1755), treating of "Slavica
Ecclesia sive Graeco-Moscha"; the other six,
which were to treat of the Syrian,
Armenian,
Egyptian,
Ethiopian,
Greek, and Roman
saints,
were partly prepared, but destroyed by fire.
— (5) "De sacris imaginibus et reliquiis,"
destined to comprise five volumes. Parts of
the
manuscript
were saved and extracts from it given by
Bottarius (Rome, 1776). — (6) "Bibliotheca
juris Orientalis canonici et civilis," five
volumes, quarto (Rome, 1762-66). — (7)
"Abraham Echellensis; Chronicon Orientale,"
printed in "Scriptores Historiae Byzantinae,"
vol. XVII. — (8) "Rudimenta linguae Arabicae"
(Rome, 1732). — (9) Several dissertations,
in Italian, on
Oriental Churches,
published by
Cardinal Angelo Mai
in his "Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio"
(Rome, 1831). From two
Maronite
writers, viz., G. Cardahi (Liber Thesauri de
arte poetica Syrorum, pp. 171-183) and Msgr.
Joseph Dibs,
Archbishop
of
Beirut,
Syria
("Spiritus Confutationis," etc., in Latin
and Arabic) we learn that J.S. Assemani had
in preparation four more gigantic works. The
first on "Syria vetus et nova," in nine
volumes; the second a "Historia Orientalis,"
in nine volumes; the third, "Concilia
ecclesiae Orientalis," in six volumes; and
the fourth "Euchologia seu Liturgia
ecclesiae orientalis," etc., in seven
volumes. From his "Bibliotheca juris
Orientalis," etc. we learn that our author
was: "Utriusque Signaturae Apostolicae
Referendarius, Bibliothecae Vaticanae
Praefectus, Basilicae Sancti Petri de Urbe
Canonicus; Sanctae Romanae et Universalis
Inquisitionis Consultor"; also "Sacrae
Poenitentiariae Apostolicae Sigillator",
etc. All our author's works, but especially
his "Bibliotheca Orientalis," which has been
till recently, and which to a great extent
is still, our main guide on the subject,
needs thorough revision in the light of the
many newly discovered and edited Syriac
manuscripts. |
