SANCTUS, an Italian Dominican, eminent for his skill in oriental languages and biblical learning, was born at Lucca in 1466. He was deeply and accurately skilled in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic, but particularly in the Hebrew. He applied himself to examine the vulgar translation of the Scriptures; and be- lieving it to be greatly corrupted, he undertook to make a new one from the Hebrew text. The design of Pagninus seemed a bold one; yet such was his reputation, that it was approved by Leo X., who promised to furnish him with all necessary means for carrying on the work, which was printed at Lyons in 1527. This is the first modern trans- lation of the Bible from the Hebrew text. Pagninus, how- ever, is thought to have adhered with too great servility to the original text, and thus to have rendered his trans- lation obscure, barbarous, and full of solecisms. He also translated the New Testament from the Greek; and was author of a Hebrew Lexicon and a Hebrew Grammar. He died in 1536, aged seventy. Luther spoke of him and his translations in terms of the highest praise.