Mario di Calasio

Friar Minor and lexicographer (1550-1620)

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".

Sources

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