Help support New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download or CD-ROM. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more all for only $19.99...
Dominican, theologian, Orientalist, b. at Subirats, Catalonia, c. 1220; d. after July, 1284. In 1250 he was selected by his superiors to study oriental languages, in 1264 became a member of the commission appointed by Jaime I of Aragon to censure the writings possessed by the Jews, and subsequently preached to the Moors in Spain and Tunis. Returning to Barcelona (1269) he successfully taught the oriental languages and wrote against the Jews and Moors. His chief work, "Pugio Fidei Christianae" completed after 1278, printed in Paris, 1651, and Leipzig, 1687, is written in Latin and Hebrew. It appeals to the Hebrew scriptures and ancient rabbinical writings to prove the truth of Christianity against the Jews. The work, which clearly indicates that Raymond Martini was extremely well-read in Hebrew literature, is much valued on account of its citations from the Talmud and other sources, and has also been highly esteemed as a polemical source. It is not probable, however, that it was known and used by St. Thomas Aquinas. Martini's other works are the recently discovered "Explanatio simboli apostolorum ad institutionem fidelium edita", written about 1256, of which important fragments were edited by Denifle, and two polemical works also antedating the "Pugio Fidei", but both lost, "Summa contra Alcoranum" and "Capistrum Judaeorum".
QUETIF-ECHARD, Script. Ord. Proed., I, 396; TOURON, Hist. des hommes illus. de l'Ordre de St. Dom., I, 489-504; MANDONNET, Siger de Brabant, I (Louvain, 1908), 47, 53, 315; II (Louvain, 1911), 28-9; DOUAIS, Essai sur l'organisation des etudes dans l'ordre des Freres Precheurs au treizieme et au quatorzieme siecle (Paris, 1884), 135-140; Jewish Encycl., VIII (New York, 1906), 351; Journal of Philology, XVI (1887), 131-52; Zeitschrift fur Hebr. Bibl. (1902-3).
APA citation. (1911). Raymond Martini. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12671a.htm
MLA citation. "Raymond Martini." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12671a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Thomas M. Barrett. Dedicated to the Poor Souls in Purgatory.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.