Antonio Maria Ceriani (May 2, 1828 – March 2, 1907) was an Italian prelate, Syriacist, and scholar. Ceriani was born at

Uboldo Uboldo ( lmo, Ubold or ''Ambold'' ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 20 km northwest of Milan and about 25 km southeast of Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= ...

, in Lombardy. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

for his home diocese of Milan in 1852 and the same year was appointed keeper of the catalogue of the

Biblioteca Ambrosiana The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan, Italy, also housing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Ambrosian art gallery. Named after Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, it was founded in 1609 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, whose agen ...

(Ambrosian Library) at Milan. From 1857 he was one of the Doctors of the ''Ambrosiana'' of which in January 1870 he became

Prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

, a post he kept until his death. Among his additional charges, from 1855 he was

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

oriental languages A wide variety of languages are spoken throughout Asia, comprising different language families and some unrelated isolates. The major language families include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Caucasian, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Tur ...

in the diocesan Major

Seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

and from 1872 professor of paleography. From the 1880s he was in scholarly contact with the English medical doctor turned liturgical scholar,

John Wickham Legg John Wickham Legg (28 December 1843 – 28 October 1921) was an English physician and a writer on theological subjects, especially ecclesiology and liturgy. Life and career He was the third son of the printer and bookseller George Legg, and ...

. Ceriani discovered the

pseudepigrapha Pseudepigrapha (also anglicized as "pseudepigraph" or "pseudepigraphs") are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past.Bauckham, Richard; "Pse ...

apocrypha Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

entitled the '' Assumption of Moses'' (or the ''Testament of Moses'' in modern editions)—a Jewish work that survived in one poorly preserved sixth-century Latin

palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin an ...

in the

Ambrosian Library The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan, Italy, also housing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Ambrosian art gallery. Named after Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, it was founded in 1609 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, whose agent ...

. He published the work in 1861. The edition presented b
The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha
is "identical to Ceriani's excellent transcription of the manuscript.". He also discovered and published in 1866 another

l text, the

Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch 2 Baruch is a Jewish pseudepigraphical text thought to have been written in the late 1st century CE or early 2nd century CE, after the destruction of the Temple in CE 70. It is attributed to the biblical Baruch and so is associated with the Old Te ...

and also a Syriac translation of the fifth column of the Septuagint as preserved in Origen's Hexapla—a photographic edition in 7 volumes, Monumenta sacra et profana, Codex syrohexaplaris Ambrosianus, Milan 1861–1874. Ceriani died at Milan in 1907, leaving as his principal scholarly heir Achille Ratti, later to become

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City f ...

External links

Ceriani, Antonio Maria
Biography—Associazione Italiana Biblioteche 1828 births 1907 deaths People from the Province of Varese Syriacists Italian philologists 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests {{OrientalOrthodoxy-stub