Bonfrerius, James

, a learned Jesuit and commentator, was born at Dinau in Liege, 1573. He was admitted into the society of Jesuits in 1592, and taught at Doway, philosophy, divinity, and the Hebrew tongue, which, as well as Greek, he understood critically. He died at Tournay, May 9, 1643. Dupin says that of all the Jesuits who have been commentators on the scriptures, there is no one superior in learning, and clearness of method, to Bonfrerius. His “Commentary on the Pentateuch” was published at Antwerp in 1625, and his “Onomasticon” of the places and cities mentioned in the Bible, composed by Eusebius, and translated by Jerome, with learned notes, was published along with his “Commentaries on Joshua, Judges, and Ruth,” at Paris in 1631, but the most complete edition of his works appeared in 1736. ²