CARMELI, Michelangelo. — Franciscan philologist, born on 27 Sept. 1705 at Cittadella (Venice), died at Padua on 15 Dec. 1766. On 25 Oct. 1723 he entered the Order of Friars Minor in the Venetian province. After theological studies he went to Rome to perfect his knowledge of languages, and also studied Hebrew with the help of a rabbi. Returning to Padua, he specialized in Hebrew, conversing with Jews; his teacher in Greek was Antonio Straticò. Through his writings on classical subjects, Fr. Carmeli had acquired such a reputation that on 9 Apr. 1744 he was appointed professor of the newly established chair “ad linguam hebraicam, graecam ceterasque orientales” at the University of Padua. Later he was admitted to the College of Theologians, and subsequently became one of its procurators with the right to establish a sixth permanent chair. In the convent of S. Francesco Grande, where he lived, he founded a famous library named after him, which was incorporated in 1836 into the University Library.
Carmeli was a skilled Hellenist, including in the field of New Testament Greek. He had a thorough command of Hebrew, as shown by his translations from the original text of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs; a skilled interpreter of Holy Scripture, he strove to expound its literal sense. His work deserves to be remembered and studied even today by biblical scholars. His printed works, in chronological order, are: *Ragionamento sopra il fenomeno apparso la notte del dì 14 dic. 1737* (Venice 1738); *Panegirici* (ibid. 1738); *P. Lacerni..., in militem gloriosum Plauti commentarius*, etc. (ibid. 1742); *Euripide..., Padua* (1743–53); *Risposta del p. C.... sopra “Animadversiones in Hebraicum Evodi Libram et in Graecam LXX Interpretationem”* (ibid. 1744); *Storia di vari costumi sacri e profani...* (2 vols., ibid. 1750; 2nd ed. ibid. 1761; 3rd ed. Venice 1778); *Pro Euripide et nove eius italico interprete* (Padua 1750); *Il Photo... di Aristofane* (Venice 1752); *Oratio apologetica... de sua Euripidis editione* (Padua 1753); *Spiegamento dell'Ecclesiaste sul testo ebreo...* Venice 1765; *Spiegamento della Cantica sul testo ebreo* (posthumous, ibid. 1767); *Dissertazioni varie filologiche* (posthumous, Rome 1768); *Concilio degli Dei, poema* (Padua 1777). Among his unpublished works special mention should be made of *Osservazioni in le annotazioni fatte agli Evangelí dall'Antore del libro intitolato “Catena sacra”* (Venice 1759); the *Prohusioni*; and many others enumerated by Fonzago.