PAGNINI, SANTI (SANTE). — Distinguished Orientalist and exegete, who was the first translator of the Bible from the original texts after s. Girolamo; b. at Lucca on 18 Oct. 1470, d. at Lyon on 24 Aug. 1536. In 1487 he donned the Dominican habit at the convent of S. Domenico in Fiesole, soon devoting himself ardently to the study of the Oriental languages, promoted by Savonarola.
Having mastered Hebrew, he worked tenaciously on a new translation of the Bible, which was published, without the commentaries, at Lyon in 1528. Although excessively literal, it was well received and repeatedly printed, including in the most celebrated polyglot Bibles, alongside the Hebrew text. In 1520, under the protection of Leo X, P. began in Rome, where he taught, an edition of a Psalterium tetraglottum, with commentaries by the Fathers and the rabbis; for lack of funds, it was interrupted at Psalm 28 (29), and only two copies survive. This was followed by the Enchiridion Chaldacum (Rome 1523), an exposition of Talmudic vocabulary. Having gone to Lyon, P. continued his scholarly activity by publishing in that city, in 1525, a Greek grammar (Isagogae ad linguam Graecam capessendum); in 1526, a Hebrew grammar (Hebraicae institutiones), which enjoyed greater success; in 1529, the substantial Hebrew dictionary (Thesaurus linguae sanctae), universally esteemed (W. Gesenius’s admiration is well known: Journal des savants, 1844, p. 609); and in 1536, on the eve of his death, a kind of biblical hermeneutics (Isagogae ad S. Literas et ad mysticos S. Script. sensus). Other works, including a commentary on the entire Bible, remained unpublished. P.’s reserved attitude toward the Vulgate was often exploited by the Protestants, who, when reprinting P.’s works, inserted their errors into them, thereby provoking their condemnation by the Church.