(Sanctus), a Dominican, illustrious for his skill in the Oriental languages, was born at Lucca in 1466. He applied himself to examine the vulgar translation of the Scriptures; and believing it to be either not of Jerom, or greatly corrupted, he undertook a new one from the present Hebrew text. It appears by a letter from Pious Mirandula to him, that he spent 25 years on this work, which is the first modern translation from the Hebrew; and the Jews who read read it, affirmed it to be more exact than the ancient translations; this, however, was his fault; for his scrupulous servile adherence to the letter of the original text, has, according to father Simon, made his translation obscure, barbarous, and full of solecisms. He afterward translated the New Testament from the Greek, as he had done the Old from the Hebrew, laying the Vulgar all the while before him; and dedicated it to pope Clement VII. He was also the author of a Hebrew Grammar and Lexicon, which Buxtorf made great use of in compiling his; and died in 1536.