Bonaventura Ubach facts for kids

Bonaventura Ubach i Medir (born in Barcelona, Spain on April 2, 1879 – died in Montserrat on February 19, 1960) was a Benedictine monk. He was also an expert in Middle Eastern cultures and a Bible scholar.

He loved to travel and study the lands and languages of the Middle East. He collected many ancient items, which are now shown at the Museum of Montserrat. He helped a lot to create this museum! In 1929, he started a big project: translating the Bible into the Catalan language, which is called the Biblia de Montserrat.

Bonaventura Ubach's Life Story

Bonaventura Ubach joined the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey in 1894. He became a priest in 1902. In 1906, he traveled to Jerusalem to study at the École Biblique. There, he met another important scholar, Marie-Joseph Lagrange.

In 1907, he became a professor at a seminary in Jerusalem. When he returned to Montserrat in 1910, he started the monastery's museums. These museums focused on items from the Middle East. From 1913 to 1922, he taught the Syriac language and the Hebrew language in Rome.

He spent time living in the Middle East. There, he worked with the Syriac Catholic Church. He helped them create new versions of their special prayer books. Later, he worked on a project to translate the Bible into Catalan. He eventually decided to lead his own translation project, which became the famous Biblia de Montserrat.

In 1928, he bought 200 ancient Egyptian papyri. This was the first private collection of such old writings in Spain. He returned to Montserrat in 1951. He continued to celebrate religious services there, often using the special Syriac Rite.

Bonaventura Ubach's Books and Works

Bonaventura Ubach wrote several important books and helped translate parts of the Bible. Here are some of his key works:

• El Sinaí: viatge per l'Aràbia Pètria cercant les petjades d'Israel (1913; second edition 1955; third edition 2011)
• Legisne toram? (1919)
• La Bíblia. Versió dels textos originals i notes pels monjos de Montserrat (This is the Bible translation project he led)
  • El Gènesi (The Book of Genesis) (1926)
  • L'Èxode (The Book of Exodus) (1927)
  • Levític (The Book of Leviticus) (1927)
  • Els Nombres (The Book of Numbers) (1928)
  • El Deuteronomi (The Book of Deuteronomy) (1928)
  • El Psalteri (The Book of Psalms) (1932)
  • I i II de Samuel (The First and Second Books of Samuel) (1952)
• Litúrgia siríaca de Sant Jaume (Syriac Liturgy of Saint James) (1952)
• Dietari d'un viatge per les regions de l'Iraq (1922-1923) (A Diary of a Trip through the Regions of Iraq) (2009)

See also

In Spanish: Bonaventura Ubach para niños