WEMMERS, JAKOBUS. - Carmelite, missionary and bishop, b. in Antwerp on 21 Oct. 1598, d. in Naples on 21 Aug. 1645. In 1617 he professed among the Carmelites of the ancient observance. Having obtained a degree in theology, he went to Rome, where he entered into relations with the priests of the Abyssinian hospice of St. Stephen, methodically studying the language of Ethiopia. In 1638 his great work Lexicon Aethiopicum (in 4to, 319 pp.) came out with the types of Propaganda, followed by a grammar of the same language with an index of Latin words referring back to the dictionary (100 pp.), the first scientific study of the Ethiopic language, still judged a masterpiece. Because of the name he acquired through these studies, in 1640 he was appointed by the Congregation of Propaganda Fide prefect of the mission of Ethiopia, where he labored with great fruit, thanks also to his glottological expertise, as well as to his apostolic zeal. Having returned to Rome, in 1645 he was elected bishop of Memphis (Cairo) and apostolic vicar for the mission of Ethiopia. Consecrated on 5 June 1645 in Rome, he set out for his field of labor, but at Naples, while he was waiting to set sail, he was struck down by death.
Bibliography3 worksC. de Villiers, Biblioth. Carmelitana, I, 2nd ed., Rome 1927, cols. 703-704; B. Zimmermann, Les Carmes humanistes, in Etudes Carmeliti., 20
BIBL.: C. de Villiers, Biblioth. Carmelitana, I, 2nd ed., Rome 1927, cols. 703-704; B. Zimmermann, Les Carmes humanistes, in Etudes Carmeliti., 20 (1935, II), pp. 91-92; Eubel, IV, p. 239.
Valentino di Maria. “Wemmers, jakobus.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, coll. 1667–1668. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954. https://azioneromana.com/article/wemmers-jakobus.
MLA
Valentino di Maria. “Wemmers, jakobus.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954, coll. 1667–1668. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/wemmers-jakobus.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec12_wemmers_jakobus,
author = {Valentino di Maria},
title = {Wemmers, jakobus},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {XII},
pages = {1667--1668},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1954},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/wemmers-jakobus}
}
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