Jean-Baptiste Glaire

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

Priest, hebraist, and Biblical scholar; b. at Bordeaux, 1 April, 1798; d. at Issy, near Paris, 25 Feb., 1879. Having completed a course of serious study at Bordeaux, he went to the seminary of Saint-Sulpice at Paris, the courses of which he followed simultaneously with those of Oriental languages at the Sorbonne (State Faculty of Theology). After his ordination to priesthood, in 1822, he began to teach Hebrew at the seminary of Saint-Sulpice. In 1825 he was made assistant to the Abbe Chaunac de Lanzac, professor of Hebrew at the Sorbonne, and succeeded him as lecturer in 1831. He was professor of Sacred Scripture in 1836, became dean of the faculty in 1841, and retired in 1851. His numerous works are out of date, but it should be remembered that he did much for the study of Holy Scripture, and, furthermore, in a very conservative way.

The following are his chief publications.- On Oriental languages: "Lexicon manuale hebraicum et chaldaicum", Paris, 1830 (correction of the "Lexicon" of Gesenius); "Principes de grammaire hébraïque et chaldaïque", Paris, 1832 and 1843; "Manuel de l'hébraïsant", Paris, 1850; "Principes de grammaire arabe", Paris, 1861. On Holy Scripture: "Introduction historique et critique aux livres de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testament", Paris, 1836, several times re-edited; he summarized it in his "Abrégé d'introduction" etc., Paris, 1846, which also went through several editions; "Les Livres saints vengés, ou la vérité historique et divine de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testament", Paris, 1845. The portion of his work which endures consists of his translations of the Bible: "La sainte Bible en latin et en français", Paris, 1834; "Torah Mosché, le Pentateuque", Hebrew text with translation and annotations; "La sainte Bible selon la Vulgate", Paris, 1871-1873, an exact but too literal version; the translation of the New Testament, also frequently published separately, was specially examined and approved at Rome. Glaire's translation was inserted in the "Bible polyglotte" of Vigouroux, Paris, 1889-1890. With Viscount Walsh, Glaire edited the "Encyclopédie catholique" (Paris, 1854-), to which he contributed a number of articles.

A. BOUDINHON