Assemani, Joseph Aloysius

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ASSEMANI, JOSEPH ALOYSIUS

Theologian and canonist; b. Syria, 1710; d. Rome, 1782; one of the pioneers in modern Oriental studies. Following his theological studies in Rome under his uncle, Joseph Simon assemani, he was appointed by the pope as professor of Syriac at the Sapienza in Rome. Benedict XIV named him professor of liturgy at the same institute and a member of the newly formed academy of research. His principal works are the Codex liturgicus ecclesiae universae in XV libros distributus (Rome 174966); De sacris ritibus dissertatio (Rome 1757); Commentarius theologicocanonicus criticus de ecclesiis, earum reverentia et asylo atque concordia Sacerdotii et Imperii (Rome 1766); Dissertatio de unione et communione ecclesastica (Rome 1770); Dissertatio de canonibus poenitentialibus (Rome 1770); De Catholicis seu Patriarchis Chaldaeorum et Nestorianorum commentarius historicochronologicus (Rome 1775); and the De Synodo Dioce-sana dissertatio (Rome 1776); a Latin version of Ebedjesus' Collectio Canonum, published by Cardinal Mai.

Bibliography: a. mai, Scriptorum veterum nova collectio e Vaticanis codicibus edita, 10 v. (Rome 182538). a. van hove, Commentarium Lovaniense in Codicem iuris canonici I, 5 v. (Mechlin 1928) 1:563.

[t. f. donovan]