BALESTRI, GIUSEPPE. - Augustinian Coptologist and biblical scholar, b. 2 Dec. 1866 at Vernio (Firenz), d. 29 Apr. 1939. His teacher was Fr. Ciasca (v.), whose influence upon him was decisive. Ordained priest in 1889, he taught Oriental languages, theology, philosophy, and Sacred Scripture to his young fellow religious for more than twenty years. In 1902 he was numbered among the first consultors of the Biblical Commission. Within his Order he held the office of first assistant general.
More than to his numerous articles in the journal Bessarione, B. owed his fame as a Coptologist to the work Sacrorum Bibliorum fragmenta copto-sabidica Musaei Borgiani, III, Rome 1904, which completes Ciasca’s two preceding volumes, and to the edition, in collaboration with Hyvernat, of the Scriptores Coptici, I-II, Paris 1907-1908, in the Corpus Script. Christ. Orient. As a biblical scholar he gained renown through Biblicae Introductionis Generalis Elementa, Rome 1932.