MESSINA, GIUSEPPE. – Jesuit, Iranist, and historian of the religions of the ancient Near East, born in S. Cataldo (Caltanissetta) on 6 January 1893, died in Messina on 28 June 1951. After his initial studies at the Jesuit College in Messina, he entered the Society of Jesus on 4 April 1907. He studied philosophy at the College of Jersey and theology at that of Valkenburg. Destined to teach the history of religions at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, he devoted himself to specialized studies at the University of Berlin under the guidance of the celebrated philologist and Iranist Giuseppe Markwart, and received his degree there, with full marks, in 1930.
At the Biblical Institute he taught Iranian studies (Sanskrit, Pahlavi, Avestan, and Neo-Persian) and the history of the religions of the ancient Near East, especially Buddhism, Manichaeism, and the Greco-Hellenistic religions, taking account of their relations with Christianity. In 1942 he was awarded the libera docenza at the University of Rome, in recognition of his merits as an Iranist. Twice he spent several months in Iran, conducting scientific research and deepening his knowledge of the languages and culture of that region.
He was a very prolific writer, both in the strictly scientific field and in that of advanced popularization (especially as a contributor to La Civiltà Cattolica). His work Cristianesimo, buddhismo e manicheismo nell'Asia antica (Rome 1947) is the valuable compendium of his many scholarly investigations. His principal work is the Diatessaron persiano (Rome 1951; edition of the text with Italian translation and an extensive introduction), based on a manuscript in the Biblioteca Medicea of Florence of Tatian’s Diatessaron, in Persian, important for the history of the Gospel text and of religious currents.