MORIN (Morinus), JEAN. - Theologian and scholar of biblical textual criticism, b. at Blois in 1591, d. at Paris on 28 Feb. 1659. Born of Calvinist parents, he pursued studies in philosophy, law, theology, and Oriental languages in the Netherlands, in a Protestant environment. Returning to France, he converted to the Catholic Church (1617) and entered the Oratory (1618). At the invitation of Pope Urban VIII, he collaborated in Rome in 1639-40 on the project to reunite the Greek Church with the Latin, especially in discussions on the validity of ordinations in the Eastern Church. Later recalled to Paris by Cardinal Richelieu, he devoted himself entirely to studies in historical theology and sacred criticism.
Among his theological-historical publications, the following are noteworthy: *De patriarcharum et primatum origine et antiqua censurarum in cleros praxi* (Paris 1626); *Commentarius historicus de disciplina in administratione Sacramenti Poenitentiae* ... (ibid. 1651, and frequently reprinted); *De sacris Ecclesiae Ordinationibus* ... (ibid. 1655). Posthumous works include: *De catechumenorum expiatione*, *De Sacramento confirmationis*, *De contritione et attritione* (ibid. 1703).
Morin’s principal biblical works are: *Exercitationes ecclesiasticae in utrumque Samaritanorum Pentateuchum* (ibid. 1631); *Exercitationes Biblicae de Hebraei Graeciae textus sinceritate*... (ibid. 1633; 2nd ed. ibid. 1669); *Dittrebe elenctica de sinceritate Hebraei Graeciae textus dignoscenda*... (ibid. 1639); *Opuscula Hebraeo-Samaritica* (ibid. 1657). He also contributed to the Paris Polyglot (1645), editing the Samaritan Pentateuch. Morin repeatedly defended the superiority of the Samaritan text and indeed of the Septuagint over the Hebrew-Masoretic text, which earned him fierce opponents (e.g., J.-H. Hottinger, *Exercitationes antimorianae*, Zurich 1644).