MORIN, JEAN

Oratorian theologian, and Orientalist, editor of the Samaritan Pentateuch; b. Blois, 1591; d. Paris, Feb. 28, 1659. He came from a Protestant family, studied at La Rochelle, then at Leyden (Holland). He returned to France, was converted, entered the Oratory (1618), and was ordained in 1619. After two studies on the history and the ancient discipline of the Church (1626, 1630), he concentrated on publishing, in the Paris Polyglot (1629–45), the volume containing the Samaritan Pentateuch, a manuscript of which had been brought to Paris by Achille de Harley de Sancy. This work occasioned other publications: the Exercitationes ecclesiasticae in utrumque Samaritanorum Pentateuchum … (1631) and the Exercitationes biblicae de hebraei graecique textus sinceritate. Pars prior. (1633). He published the Opuscula hebraeosamaritica in 1657. After his death, the Exercitationes of 1633 were reedited, and a second part was added (1660). In these works, Morin gathered together everything he could concerning the Samaritan texts and the language, and advanced the thesis that the Greek text of the Old Testament is preferable to the Hebrew, which he held to have been corrupted by the rabbis. It was a reaction, necessary perhaps, but exaggerated, against the then current ideas of J. Buxtorf, and others. In 1639, Morin, called to Rome to work on the reconciliation of the Oriental churches, became friendly with two Orientalists, Leon Allatius and L. Holsten. His interest in the Oriental churches was aroused and he undertook works that he continued after his return (1640). He published his Commentarius historicus de disciplina in administratione sacramenti paenitentiae in 1651. Then followed the Commentarius de sacris Ecclesiae ordinationibus in 1655. Morin prepared works on baptism and marriage, which he did not finish. A late publication, Opera posthuma, which appeared in 1703, contains only secondary works. The person and the work of Morin were generally admired, and he was acknowledged to be a man of prodigious erudition. In the biblical domain, even if his main thesis was debatable, the materials accumulated and the edition of the Samaritan Pentateuch are of great value. In positive theology, he gave new impetus to the study of the sacraments by publishing rare texts and by reevaluating the Oriental tradition.

Bibliography: r. simon, Antiquitates Ecclesiae orientalis quibus … praefixa est J. Morini … vita (London 1682). l. batterel, Mémoires doméstiques pour servir à l'histoire de l'Oratoire, ed. a. m. p. ingold and e. bonnardet, 5 v. (Paris 1903–11) 2:435–468. a. m. p. ingold, ed., Essai de bibliographie oratorienne (Paris 1880–82) 112–116. p. auvray, "Jean Morin, 1591–1659," Revue biblique 66 (1959): 397–414.

[p. auvray]