MARRACCI, LODOVICO. – Orientalist and theologian, born at Torcigliano di Camaiore (Lucca) on 6 October 1612, died at Rome on 5 February 1700. He entered the Congregation of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God, where he held various offices; he was entrusted with delicate assignments in the Curia.
Well acquainted with the classical languages, he devoted himself particularly to the study of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. He played a leading role in preparing the Arabic version of the Bible, in conformity with the Vulgate, begun in 1624 and printed in 3 vols. in 1671, promoted by the Holy Congregation of Propaganda for the use of the Eastern Churches. For 40 years he worked on the major undertaking Alcorani textus universus (Padua 1698), in two folio volumes. The first bore the title Prodromus ad refutationem Alcorani (published separately in 1691, in 4 vols.), and dealt with Mohammed on the basis of Arabic sources, refuting his doctrine; the second contained the Arabic text of the Qur’an, the Latin translation, a commentary on obscure passages, and the refutation. This was a fundamental work, extensively exploited by subsequent editors of the Qur’an. He also worked on the correction of the Syriac Breviary; translated St. John Damascene’s Paracletica in Siam Deiparam Virginem Mariam (1685); and wrote Lo stendardo seromannico (Rome 1683). He discovered the falsification of the famous tablets of Granada, which were claimed to be attributable to St. James the Greater.