Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-11-12
BY JOHN JAY DAILY.


pleted it was published in IL sets
of 81 volumes, each for distribution
to chief institutions in America
and abroad. One of these sets is
the possession in the library at
Catholic University-and the Latin
dedication is autographed by Mr..
Morgan himself.
Enthusiastic About Work.
Today, at 81, DR.. Hyvernat is en-
thusiastic as boy about his work.
He never has stopped. and when
some one mentions that he is the
only survivor of the original faculty
he smiles and says, Imagine that"
DR.. Hyvernat landed in New York
in 1887 and came to Baltimore,
where he conferred with the late
Cardinal Gibbons about the OPEN
ing of Catholic University. From
Baltimore he came to Washington.
on the old Baltimore & Ohio, and
here he has remained.
Some. years ago he donated his
library to the university as part
of his Foundation for Research in
Christian Oriental Literatures, a
collection now numbering 10000
volumes. This has been catalogued
and classified under his direction,
with the assistance Of Miss c. v.
Allen Of: Washington, the Rev. DR..
"A. A. vaschalde and the late Rev.
DR.. Romanus Butin.
Before coming to the university,
DR.. Hyvernat had received the de-
gree of bachelor des lettres at the
University of France, in Lyon, in
1876. He studied philosophy and
theology under the Sulpician Fa-
theirs at Issy in 1877-79 and Paris
priesthood at Lyon, his home do
cese. in 1882. A few months later
he received a decorate of divinity
from the Pontif1cal University in
Rome. In 1885 he was appointed
interpreter of Oriental languages
for the Sacred Congregation De
Propaganda Eide, as we'll as profess
sor of Syriac at the Oriental 1nsti-
! tute of the same congregation and
professor Of Assyriology and Egyp-
tology at the ST. Appollonari Pom
tif1cal School of Higher Studies. Be-
fore coming to America, he Travelled
extensively in Armenia while on
scientific mission for the French
government, Mesopotamia, Chaldea,
India, Egypt and Palestine between
1888 and 1889.
Material Lacking at Beginning.
His appointment to the stah OF the
Catholic University in 1889 meant
sacrifice for DR.. Hyvernat. Mate
rial for research in Oriental subjects
was then scarce In this country, and
there were few men interested in the
same line of research. This dearth
of material and lack of association
he overcame to considerable ex-
tent by annual visits to the great
European centers of Oriental studies,
Rome, Paris, Louvain and Berlin in
particular. Every fall he returned
to the university laden with spoils
wherewith to enrich not only his own
private library but that of his de-
partment as we'll, and often the main
and other libraries on the campus.
1t was in the course of one of
those annual visits abroad, for in
stance, that he acquired in 1906 for
the Department of Holy Scriptures
the famous Stade Library with
funds generously supplied to him by
his friend, the late E. Francis Riggs.
This library was rich in works on
the history of the Hebrew people
and the Old Testament in a gen.
eral way.
AS early as 1903 DR.. Hyvernat had
been interested in the Corpus Scrip
forum Orientalium, an Oriental pa
trology then being founded in Paris
by another French priest, distin-
guished Syriac scholar, the Rev. j.
B. Chabot, doctor in theology of the
University of Louvain. DR.. Hyvernat
accepted the invitation to map out
and organize the Coptic section. to
which he became an active con-
tributor. In 1912 SO volumes of
Oriental Texts of Latin translations
had already been published. It was
then that, at DR.. Hyvernat's sug-
gestion, the Catholic University and
the University of Louvain agreed to
take charge of this important series,
which has since appeared under the
names of the two universities. It
consists now Of 10 volumes, Of
which S In the Syriac section were
prepared by the Rev. A. A. Va
schalde, DR.. Hyvernat's distinguished
colleague.
Known rs Contributor.
When Dr. Hyvernat came to the
university he was already we'll
known for his important contribu-
tons to scientific periodicals. One
of the most important is the "Cunei-
form Inscriptions" (Assyrian) pre-
served in the Vatican Library. There
is another one on the Jewish Mag
ical Bowl of the Lycklama Museum
In Cannes, France. Among his other
publications are the "Actes des
Martyrs de l'Egypte," Rome, 1884,
1886. and Album de photographic
Copte." Rome and Paris. 1888. His
first publication after joining the
Catholic University in 1889 was q
set of scientific notes on ancient Ar.
menia which appeared in the ap-
pendix, 'Du Caucase au Cole Per-