Cotelier, Jean-Baptiste

COTELIER, JEAN-BAPTISTE. - Philologist, b. at Nîmes in 1627, d. at Paris on 12 Aug. 1686. From childhood he showed singular aptitudes for study and for poetry and was often chosen to weave the panegyric of eminent personalities.

At the age of 13 he could explain at first sight the Hebrew text of the Bible and the Greek text of the New Testament. In 1659 he began works of erudition and in 1661 he published: Homiliae IV in Psalmos et interpretatio Danielis graece et latine by St. John Chrysostom. With Du Cange he compiled the catalogue of the Greek manuscripts of the Royal Library of Paris. In 1672 he published: Sanctorum Patrum qui temporibus apostolicis (whence the designation of Apostolic Fathers) flornerunt, Barnabae, Hermae, Clementis, Ignatii, Polycarpi opera, cum Clementis, Ignatii, Polycarpi actis atque martyris. In 1676 he was appointed professor of Greek at the Royal College. His principal work is: Ecclesiae graecae monumenta (3 vols., Paris 1677-78), a collection of Greek ecclesiastical authors, with Latin translation, also comprising unpublished writings drawn from manuscripts of the Royal Library. All the texts are accompanied by critical notes and erudite commentaries of value. Many manuscripts of C. on Christian antiquity are to be found in the National Library of Paris.

Noemi Crostarosa Scipioni