MALATESTA, ONOFRIO. - Theologian of the Order of Minims, b. at Palermo on 8 Sept. 1665, d. at Rome on 7 Jan. 1749. He entered religious life at the age of 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 Trinacria, Vucabulariu sicilianu (4 vols., only partly published, Palermo 1706); the manuscript portion, of which copies were made, still exists; it is the most voluminous dialect dictionary (on whose compilation M. spent eleven years), and served as a guide to later writers; furthermore, Vita s. Alivae virginis et martyris (Rome 1716); Notizie storiche della chiesa di S. Andrea delle Fratte (unpublished, in the Biblioteca Casanatense, in Miscellanea Terribilini delle chiese di Roma).