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Mammotreptus, so surnamed from the title of the Dictionary published by him, a simple and devout man, of the Order of Minorites — following the poor largess of that little poor widow, who out of her slender poverty cast two mites into the treasury of the temple — himself also offered into the temple of the Lord, out of his scanty means, what he had: that is, a Dictionary of the words of the whole Bible, explaining the pronunciation, accent, and meaning of the Latin words with a coarse and rude Minerva [rough skill]. And because he had presented it to unlearned clerics — still, as it were, infants in the Latin tongue — like a breast to be sucked, and to be handled by infant hands after the manner of a devoted nurse, he entitled it Mammotreptus [the breast-fed], suppressing his own name out of humility; in place of which he afterward, by growing custom, got the name of Mammotreptus [himself]. The work begins, Impatient of my own unskillfulness. He flourished in the year of the Lord 1450.
Maffeo Vegio [Matthaeus Veggius], an Italian by nation, of Lodi by fatherland, Datary of Pope Martin V, a man not unacquainted with the divine Scripture, an orator and poet, never
…[Maffeo Vegio, an orator and poet] never sufficiently praised, whose 13th book, added by himself to the Virgilian Aeneid, shows abundantly the felicity of his most rich vein. In his extreme old age he brought forth, in elegiac verse, on the seven Psalms an elegant and truly swan-like Paraphrase. He flourished in the year of the Lord 1430.
Marbod [Marbadus], Bishop of Rennes, learned in the liberal disciplines, a distinguished poet of his times, and a notable professor of the sacred oracles, published in elegant verse a most beautiful explanation on the Song of Solomon, according to the threefold sense — anagogical, allegorical, and moral. He flourished under Henry III, in the year of the Lord 1050.
Marcus of Ulm [Vlmensis], a German, of the Order of Minorites, a scholastic by profession, collected a Distinctionarium on the whole holy scripture, most useful to scholastic expositors, whose beginning is Abstinence is taken in many ways. He flourished in the year of the Lord 400 [so printed; read ~1400 — a Franciscan cannot belong to the year 400].
Marianus [Scotus], a monk of Fulda, a Scot by nation, of the order of St. Benedict, a writer of history, composed one book On the Concordance of the Gospels. He dies in the year of the Lord 1086.
Matthew of Aquasparta [Matthaeus de Aquasparta], the twelfth Minister General of the Order of Minorites, and afterward Bishop of Porto, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church — magnificently learned in secular Philosophy according to the custom of his time, and most excellent in the divine Scriptures — published, under the Emperor Rudolf, in the year of the Lord 1280, one book on the epistles of Paul.
Matthew, a monk of Aula Regia [Königsaal], a German by nation, a man subtle and keen in disputation, who in Bohemia often engaged with John Huss of Prague the heresiarch, and very often overcame him along with his heretical followers; but after the excessive sprouting-up of heresies he came out of Bohemia into Germany, to the monastery of Altzelle [Veteris cellae] of the Cistercian order, as it were into a harbor, in which — instructing the brethren by assiduous reading of the sacred [scriptures] — he left on all the Psalms a scholastic Lecture much to be praised. He flourished under the Emperor Sigismund, in the year of the Lord 1415.
Matthew Aurogallus [Goldhahn], a German by nation, most skilled in the three languages, emulating Eusebius, published a book on the Hebrew [names] of cities, regions, peoples, rivers, mountains, and other places which are read in the holy Scriptures; in which he arranged all the appellations in Hebrew characters in alphabetical order, with the individual passages of divine scripture cited in which those names are found. The book begins, When lately with me, &c. He flourished under Charles V, Augustus, in the year of the Lord 1526.
Matthew Bredenbach of Kerpen [Bredembacchius, Kerspensis], while he lived headmaster at Emmerich, wrote on Matthew, and on sixty-nine Psalms, beautiful commentaries, collected partly from ancient, partly from more recent authors. He flourished in the year of the Lord 1550.
Matthew Döring [Doringus], a Saxon by nation, a Minorite, minister of the province of Saxony, a distinguished professor of Scholastic Theology — having undertaken a battle in defense of his master Nicholas of Lyra against Paul, Bishop of Burgos, after that [Paul’s] attack upon the same Nicholas — strove to overthrow his objections, publishing new disputations, which — appended to the commentaries of Lyra immediately after the Pauline additions — he entitled Replies against Paul of Burgos [Replicae adversus Paulum Burgensem]. The beginning of the work is, The ancient modesty. He flourished under the Emperor Frederick III, in the year of the Lord 1440.
Matthew of Évreux [Ebroicensis], a Norman, a professor of the Order of Preachers, a subtle searcher of the sacred volumes, most pleasing to Charles VI, king of the French, for his exceptional piety and erudition, composed a most useful Postil on the five books of Moses and on Isaiah.
Matthew Orio [Oryus], a Spaniard, a Dominican, inquisitor of heretical depravity throughout Gaul, wrote on that saying of Paul, I wish to speak five words [1 Cor 14:19], against the heresies, one book.
Matthew, Patriarch of Constantinople, of the Order of Preachers, reduced the whole body of the divine Scripture into four books of commonplaces, whose beginning is All new fruits. It is kept at Bologna in our Library of the Preachers.
Matthias, a Presbyter of Vendôme [Vindocinensis], expounded the history of Tobit in elegiac verse, beginning thus:
From the old field, the seeds of the virtues of morals.
He flourished among the Scholastics, in the year of the Lord 1400.
Maurice [de Sully], Bishop of Paris, subtle in genius, scholastic in speech, and singular in erudition, published two books of sermons on the festal Gospels. He flourished in the year of the Lord 1190.
Maximus the Monk [Maximus the Confessor] published a sermon on that [text] of Exodus 37, On the Candlestick and the seven lamps; from which Thomas [Aquinas], in his book against the errors of the Greeks, brings testimonies that the Spirit proceeds from the Father.
Maximus, Bishop of the Church of Turin [Taurinensis], most skilled in the holy Scriptures, and an admirable extempore declaimer, wrote most elegant homilies on various passages of both Testaments. He dies under Theodosius the Younger, in the year of the Lord 420.
Melchior Cano, a Spaniard, bishop of the Fortunate Islands [the Canaries], of the Order of Preachers, composed a most useful book On the most difficult passages of the divine Scripture; likewise, on that [text] of Luke chapter thirteen, Unless you do penance, one book On penance. In the year of the Lord 1560.
Melito the Asian, Bishop of the Church of Sardis, venerable for sanctity and erudition, whom Tertullian asserts was held by the ancients as, so to speak, a prophet, excerpted from all the scriptures here and there six books of Ἐκλογῶν, that is, of Excerpts, [dedicated] to his brother Onesimus: in which he fitted in a beautiful order various testimonies of the Scriptures, conducive to the instruction of the Christian life,
…[Melito] fitted in a beautiful order [various testimonies of the Scriptures]. Likewise:
- On that [text] of Genesis 1, Let us make man, one book On God the incorporeal.
- On the Life of the Prophets, one book.
- On the Apocalypse, one book.
- On the catalog of the divine volumes of both Testaments, [dedicated] to Onesimus, one epistle.
He flourished under Marcus Antoninus Verus, in the year of the Lord 160.
Methodius (who is also called Eubulius), Bishop of Olympus in Lycia, and afterward of Tyre, a man of singular sanctity and doctrine, of a polished and well-composed eloquence, wrote — in defense of the holy Scriptures, against the mad Porphyry who had assailed them — a most illustrious work. He also left commentaries on Genesis; likewise, on the 28th chapter of the first [book] of Kings, On the Pythoness [the Witch of Endor], one book; on the Song of Songs, one book; on the Apocalypse, one book, whose fragments are read in the Rhapsodies of the explanations of Arethas on the Apocalypse. And he dies under the last persecution of the Church, or, as others affirm, under Decius and Valerian, at Chalcis, a city of Greece, crowned with martyrdom, in the year of the Lord 255.
Michael Adam, a converted Jew, translated the Bible into the German tongue, and, for the use of the Jews, set it forth in Hebrew characters.
Michael Aiguani of Bologna [Angrianus, Bononiensis], Minister General of the Carmelites, a Theologian, philosopher, and supreme canonist, who governed his order justly and holily for nine years under Pope Urban VI, wrote in scholastic fashion five books of commentaries on the whole Psalter, and one book on the Gospel of Luke, which are held in great esteem among the professors of his own institute. He dies in the last year of the Emperor Wenceslaus, in the year of the Lord 1396.
Michael, a Tuscan by nation, from the town of Massa, an [Augustinian] Hermit, a scholastic Theologian very acute, many of whose commentaries on the sacred Bible the injury of the times has consumed, wrote in scholastic style: On Isaiah, 1 book; On Matthew, 1 book; On Luke, 1 book; On Mark, 1 book; On John, 1 book; On the Passion of the Lord, from the four gospels, one book. He flourished in the year of the Lord 1350.
Michael of L’Isle in Picardy [de insula Picardia], of the Order of Preachers, wrote a scholastic Lecture on the Song of Songs, beginning I will sing to my beloved, &c., and a Postil on Daniel, which begins He brought forth hidden things. It is kept at Venice in the library of SS. John and Paul.
Michael of Milan [Mediolanensis], of the Order of Minorites, a Theologian and celebrated declaimer, conspicuous also by the example of his life, published in scholastic fashion eleven sermons on the Decalogue, from the 20th chapter of Exodus. He flourished in the year of the Lord 1480.