ANTONIO da Aleppo. - Franciscan friar and missionary in Egypt, born in 1709, died in Akmin on 31 August 1766. His baptismal name was Fatah Alah, "Felicity of God." A Melkite dissident, he converted to Catholicism around the age of 30 and served as a schoolmaster and commissary for the Franciscan friars in Farsciut. He had a perfect command of Greek, Arabic, and Turkish, and some knowledge of Italian. He was well-versed in dogmatics and Eastern controversies. He donned the Franciscan habit in Tarsciut in 1739 and in 1751 was sent, along with Frs. Remedio Prutsky and Martino Lang, to Ethiopia, where they settled near the emperor in Gondar. The Abuna threatened excommunication and pressured the emperor, who ordered their immediate departure (2 October 1753); however, the missionaries remained for three more months. Finally, on Christmas Day, they were expelled from the imperial palace; only A. was forced to stay behind to translate the Pentateuch into Arabic. At the beginning of 1759, we find A. in Cairo; he died as superior of the house in Akmin. For his blameless life and excellent qualities, he was esteemed by all Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
ANTONIO DA ALEPPO
BIBL.: V. Grieder, *Germania Franciscana*, I, Innsbruck 1777; T. Somigli, *La Francescana Spedizione in Etiopia del 1751-1754 e la sua relazione del p. Remedio Prutsky di Boemia*, in *Archivum Franciscanum Historicum*, VI, Quaracchi 1913.