ALLACCI, LEONE [LEO ALLATIUS] (1586-1669), Greek scholar
and theologian, was born in the island or Chios. His early
years were passed in Calabria and at Rome, where he finally
settled as teacher of Greek at the Greek college, at the
same time devoting himself to the study of classics and
theology. In 1622, after the capture of Heidelberg by Tilly,
the elector Maximilian of Bavaria presented its splendid
library composed of 196 cases of MSS. (bibliotheca Palatina)
to Pope Gregory XV. Allacci was sent to superintend its
removal to Rome, where it was incorporated with the Vatican
library. On the death of Gregory, Allacci became librarian to
Cardinal Berberini, and subsequently (1661) librarian of the
Vatican, which post he held till his death on the 18th (or
19th) of January 1669. It is noteworthy that, although a Greek
by birth, he became an ardent Roman Catholic and the bitter
enemy of all heretics, including his own countrymen. Allacci
was a very industrious and voluminous writer, but his works,
although they bear ample testimony to his immense learning,
show an absence of the true critical faculty, and are full of
intolerance, especially on religious subjects. For a list
of these, J. A. Fabricius's Bibliotheca Graeca (xi. 437)
should be consulted, where they are divided into four classes:
editions, translations and commentaries on ancient authors; works
relating to the dogmas and institutions of the Greek and Roman
Churches; historical works; miscellaneous works. The number
of his unpublished writings is also very large; the majority
of them are included in the MSS. of the Vallicellian library.
The main source of our knowledge of Allatius is the incomplete
life by Stephanus Gradi, Leonis Allatii vita, published by
Cardinal Mai, in Nova Bibliotheca Patrum. A complete enumeration
of his works is contained in E. Legrand, Bibliographie
hellenique du XVIIeme siecle (Paris, 1895, iii.
435-471). The accounts of C. N. Sathas in Neoellenvike
filologia (Athens, 1868), and of the pseudo-prince Demetrius
Rhodokanakis, Leonis Allatii Hellas (Athens, 1872, are
inaccurate and untrustworthy. For a special account of his
share in the foundation of the Vatican Library, see Curzio
Mazzi, Leone Allacci e la Palatina di Heidelberg (Bologna,
1893). The theological aspect of his works is best
treated by the Assumptionist Father L. Petit in A. Vacant's
Dictionnaire de theologie (Paris, 1900, cols. 830-833).
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed