The New International Encyclopædia/Diodati, Giovanni

​DIODATI, dē′ō̇-dä′tē̇. Giovanni (1576–1649). A Swiss Reformed theologian. He was born at Geneva, of a noble Italian family which, having accepted the Reformation, was driven from home by persecution. His progress in letters was so rapid that Beza caused him to be appointed professor of Hebrew in Geneva at the age of twenty one. He became a pastor of the Reformed Church there, and in 1609 professor of theology. About this time he endeavored to spread the doctrines of the Reformation in Venice and other cities of Italy, but without success. In 1614 he went to Nimes, where he preached for three years, and in 1618 he was sent to the Synod of Dort, to represent the Genevese Church. Here his talents were so highly estimated that he was one of the divines appointed to draw up the articles of the synod. He died at Geneva in 1649. Diodati was a somewhat intolerant Calvinist, but as a preacher he was eloquent, persuasive, and conscientious. His Italian translation of the Bible—the one still generally used among the Italian Protestants—appeared in 1607; his French, in 1644. Among his other works may be mentioned his Annotationes in Biblia (1607); De Fictitio Pontificiorum Purgatorio (1619); and De Iusta Secessione Reformatorum ab Ecclesia Romana (1628). For his life, consult Eugène de Bude (Geneva, 1869).