MARRACCI, LODOVICO. - Orientalist and theologian, born at Torcigliano di Camaiore (Lucca) on 6 Oct. 1612, died at Rome on 5 Feb. 1700. He entered the Congregation of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God, where he held various offices; he was entrusted with delicate tasks in the Roman Curia.
A good scholar of the classical languages, he devoted himself particularly to the study of Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic. He played a leading part in the preparation of the Arabic version of the Bible, in conformity with the Vulgate, begun in 1624 and printed in 3 vols. in 1671, promoted by the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda for the use of the Eastern Churches. For 40 years he worked on the great undertaking: *Alcoraani textus universus* (Padua 1698), in two folio volumes, the first of which, under the title: *Prodromus ad refutationem Alcoraani* (published separately in 1691, in 4 vols.), treats of Muḥammad according to Arabic sources and refutes his doctrine; in the second he gives the Arabic text of the Qur’an, the Latin translation, a commentary on obscure passages and a refutation; this work was fundamental and widely used by later editors of the Qur’an. He also worked on the correction of the Syriac Breviary; translated the *Paraclctica in Ss. am Deiparam Virginem Mariam* of St. John Damascene (1685); *Lo stendardo ottomanico* (Rome 1683). He exposed the forgery of the famous Granada Tables which were claimed to have been written by St. James the Greater.