Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Félix-Marie Abel, o.p. (FMA)
Parallel form(s) of name
- Father Abel
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1878-1953
History
One of the masters of the founding generation of the School was Félix- Marie Abel, o.p., born in Saint-Uze, in the Drôme, in 1878. He arrived as a novice in December 1897, and as soon as M.-J. Lagrange had identified his exceptional abilities, it was decided that he would remain in Jerusalem. He quickly became known for his mastery of Greek sources (texts and inscriptions), for the history and geography of Palestine. He wrote the historical part of Louis-Hugues Vincent's archaeological studies on Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron. He composed a large commentary of 1- 2 Maccabees (1949), books that he also translated for the fascicle edition of the Jerusalem Bible. For the second edition of the Jerusalem Bible, his work was largely taken up by Jean Starcky. Abel had also been asked to translate the Book of Joshua, which he was also commenting on at the time of his death.
Abel taught geography courses in Palestine at the Bible School for nearly 50 years. In 1932, he and Vincent carried out excavations on the site of the Byzantine Emmaus. In 1940, he was appointed consultant to the Pontifical Biblical Commission.
His three most enduring works remain: Grammar of the Biblical Greek followed by a selection of papyrus, Bible Studies series (1927), Geography of Palestine (I. 1933; II. 1938), and History of Palestine from the conquest of Alexander to the Arab invasion (1952). It is less well known that this scientist was an accomplished watercolorist, who wrote an illustrated guide to the Holy Land.
He died at the École Biblique on the eve of the 1953 Annunciation.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
ISAAR (CPF), 2nd Edition, 2004.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Entry prepared on November 2018
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Maintenance notes
Author(s) : Marie-Alpais Torcheboeuf.