Name

Leonardo Abel

Original name

Main activity

Priest

Secondary activity

Translator, Emissary

Title

Bishop of Sidon

Name variations

Leonardo Abela, Abel, Leonardo"

Education place

Malta Rome

Education institution

Activity place

Rome

Activity institution

Activity start date

1578

Activity end date

1605

Place of birth

Malta

Date of birth

1541

Place of death

Rome

Date of death

1605

Bibliographical references

https://www.zotero.org/groups/2447618/euqu_european_quran/collections/559HTU6W/tags/Leonardo%20Abel,Oriental%20Christians/collection

Descriptive card

Active in Rome since 1578, under the protection of Cardinal Santoro, patron of the Orientals. Due to his knowledge of various oriental languages, he was named interpreter and confessor for the Roman Curia in the Arabic language and Syriac. At his arrival he started to learn written Arabic from the Neophyte Domenico Sirleto, then substituted as teacher by Moses of Mārdīn. He was chosen by Pope Gregory XIII as an envoy to the Eastern Churches (Jacobite, Chaldean, Melkite, Coptic and Armenian) to carry out the negotiations for the reunification and the acceptance of the new calendar, and in this occasion he was appointed bishop of Sidon (1582). His apostolic nunciature lasted from 1583 to 1587, the year of his return to Rome without great results, but having collected numerous manuscripts during his travels. He was also a copyist and commissioned various copies of manuscripts, and was himself author of texts of various genre. He was involved in different cultural and editorial projects promoted by the Holy See, in particular the edition, with translation and confutation, of the Qur'an (never realized), and the edition of the Arabic Gospels, both promoted by the Typographia Medicea.

Entry author

Sara Fani