Henri Hyvernat
Henri Eugene Xavier Loius Hyvernat (born June 30, 1858 in Saint-Julien-en-Jarret , today part of L'Horme , Loire department , † May 30, 1941 in Washington ) was a Franco-American Coptologist , Semitist and Orientalist .
Life
Hyvnernat was the fifth of nine children of Claude and M. Leonide (née Meyrieux) Hyvernat. His father was a reporter for the Gazette de Lyon . After studying in Europe, Henri Hyvernat was appointed first professor and founding director of the Department of Oriental Studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC in 1897 . In his research he was interested in the late antique, medieval and early modern history of the Christian Orient. Hyvernat collected a lot of specialist literature, which today forms the fundamental basis of the library of the Department for Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literature and the Institute for Christian-Oriental Research. His research focus on the legacy of the Christian Oriental communities is unique in the United States.
Hyvernat's work was linked to several discoveries of ancient Christian documents in Egypt in the 20th century, including the Coptic Library in the Monastery of St. Michael, next to today's area of al-Hamūlī in the Fayyum area of Egypt. This library has about 50 manuscripts from the 9th and 20th centuries. In 1911 this collection was bought by the American banker John Pierpont Morgan at Hyvernat's request . Hyvernat had spent over 30 years studying and cataloging the Coptic Library. A large facsimile edition, Bybliothecae Pierpont Morgan Codice photographice expressi 56 volumes in 63 parts, (Rome, 1922), which was published under the direction of Hyvernat, is still an important source for Coptologists today.
In 1921, Hyvernat was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .
Works
- Album de paleographie copte, pour servir a l'introduction des actes des martyrs de l'Égypte, Leroux, Paris, 1888
- Les actes des martyrs de l'Égypte tirés des manuscrits Coptes de la Bibliothèque Vaticane et du Musée Borgia, avec introd. et commentaires par Henri Hyvernat, Leroux, Paris, 1886
- Additis indicibus totius operis, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium ; 125, Louvain, 1950
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hyvernat, Henri |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hyvernat, Henri Eugene Xavier Loius (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Franco-American coptologist, Semitist and orientalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 30, 1858 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Saint-Julien-en-Jarret , Loire |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 30, 1941 |
| Place of death | Washington |