MALATESTA, ONOFRIO. - Theologian of the Order of Minims, born in Palermo on 8 September 1665, died in Rome on 7 January 1749. He became a religious at sixteen and taught philosophy, theology, and Sacred Scripture for more than twenty years. He also distinguished himself as an orator.
Principal works: *La crusca de la Trivena*, *Vucubaluris siciliani* (4 vols., published only in part, Palermo 1706); the manuscript portion, of which copies were made, still exists; it is the most voluminous dialectal dictionary (compiled by M. over eleven years), which served as a guide for later writers; also, *Vita s. Alvae virginis et martyris* (Rome 1716); *Notizie storiche della chiesa di S. Andrea delle Fratte* (unpublished, in the Biblioteca Casanatense, in *Miscellanea Terribiliani delle chiese di Roma*).