Francis Britius was a seventeenth-century orientalist and a monk at

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

. The precise dates of his birth and death are unknown. Britius entered the

Capuchin Order The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFM Obs., now OFM) ...

and spent the earlier years of his religious life in missionary work in the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

, where he devoted himself with special zeal to the study of Oriental languages. His proficiency in these languages soon came to the notice of his superiors, and, being summoned to Rome, he was employed by the

Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...

in the translation of several important works into Arabic. The first great fruit of his labors in this field was an abridged translation of Baronius' ''Annales ecclesiastici''. The work was published at Rome in three volumes quarto, the first of which appeared in 1653, the second in 1655, and the third in 1671. Britius had also much to do with a translation of the Bible into Arabic, giving the

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

text in parallel columns, which was published by Mazari, at Rome, in 1671 (3 vols. fol.) Practically the entire edition of both translations was sent to the East for use in the work of missions.

References

;Attribution Capuchins Translators of the Bible into Arabic {{RC-clergy-stub