MASSIMO CRISOBERGA. - Greek, born in Constantinople (14th cent.), a man of letters, in the service of Emperor Manuele II, disciple of Demetrio Cidone, whose Greek translation of the works of St Thomas Aquinas he read. He became a Catholic and a Dominican at Pera (1390-91?). He studied (and perhaps taught) philosophy in Venice (1393-94?), theology in Pavia (1396-97).
Bonifazio IX authorized him to celebrate in Greek, according to the rite of the Preachers, Mass and the Divine Office (25 Feb. 1938), and to found in Greek territory a new convent of his Order. He had the prayers of the Dominican Missal translated by his friend Manuele Crisolora, while Demetrio Cidone translated (if he had not done so earlier) the Ordinary of the Mass. M. C. then returned to the East (Crete and Chios) and died, probably at Mytilene, before 1429. He was a friend of Manuele Caleca. He had two brothers, Teodoro and Andrea, converts and Dominicans like himself. He is the author of a Discourse to the Cretans on the procession of the Holy Spirit, of various unpublished sermons, and of theological letters to Giuseppe Briennio and Nilo Damila, of which there is notice only in their replies.