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 This gigantic work, of which only the first four volumes appeared, was to comprise twelve volumes, of which the unpublished ones were as follows: Vol.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 Considerable preparation for these unpublished volumes was made by the author, a portion of which was destroyed by fire.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.