Selections of Felix Pratensis (Felice da Prato)’s writings on the Jews

About the Author

Felix Pratensis (Felice da Prato, fl. 1515–1520), born a Jew in the Augustinian monastery’s patronage-town of Prato, converted to Christianity and entered the Augustinian Hermit Order. He became the most learned Hebraist of the early sixteenth-century Church, producing two major works: the Psalterium iuxta Hebraicam veritatem — a Latin translation of the Psalms directly from Hebrew, dedicated to Pope Leo X and approved by him (Naples, c. 1515; Venice, 1522) — and the first edition of the Miqra’ot Gedolot (Rabbinic Bible), printed by Daniel Bomberg in Venice, 1516–1517. Pratensis used the Psalter’s prefatory materials and its running scholiā — aimed at a Christian readership — to expose what he regarded as the errors, obduracy, and deicidal guilt of his former co-religionists, and to demonstrate through the Hebrew scriptures and the Aramaic Targum (Chaldaic version) that the Jews‘ own sources testify against them on behalf of Christ.

All passages below are from the Psalterium iuxta Hebraicam veritatem (Venice, 1522). Spelling and orthography follow the original print.

I. On His Own Conversion from “Jewish Depravity” to the Faith of Christ

“…renascente id est a Iudaica pravitate ad sacrosancta fide Christi accedente & baptismatis laticibus foecundissimis initiandu me susceperat.”

Translation: “…receiving me, being reborn, that is, coming from Jewish depravity to the most holy faith of Christ, and to be initiated in the most fruitful waters of Baptism.”

— Epistola Dedicatoria ad Leonem X Pontificem Maximum (Dedicatory Letter to Pope Leo X)

II. On the Jewish People as the Persecutors of Christ — The Figure of Absalom

“…persecutioni Iudaeorum quos Absalom nomine nuncupavit… Absalom vero Pater Pacis interpretatur; quis aut Pater Pacis nuncupatur nisi populus Hebraeus qui Lege Dei amplectebatur?… & quis persecutor Patris sui aeterni Salvatoris ac Redemptoris & Mesiae sui fuit, qui eum e captivitate educere curavit, nisi populus Iudaeorum?”

Translation: “…the persecution of the Jews, whom he [David] named by the name of Absalom… Absalom indeed is interpreted as ‘Father of Peace’; but who is called ‘Father of Peace’ if not the Hebrew people who embraced the Law of God?… And who was the persecutor of his eternal Father, Saviour, and Redeemer, and of His Messiah, who took care to lead him out of captivity, if not the Jewish people?”

— In titulum Psalmi III (Commentary on the title of Psalm 3)

III. On the Jews as “Sons of Man” (Filii Viri) — Carnal Israel Contrasted with the Gentiles

“In secundo versu… filios viri Iudaeos nuncupat; etenim filios Abrahae seipsos appellabant, & vir hic sumitur pro ipso Abraham, qui magnae fuit sanctitatis & constantiae.”

Translation: “In the second verse… he calls the ‘sons of the man’ Jews; for they used to call themselves the sons of Abraham, and this ‘man’ [vir] is taken for Abraham himself, who was of great holiness and constancy.”

— In Psalmum IV declaratio (Commentary on Psalm 4)

IV. On the Crucifixion of Christ by the Jews — Blindness of Heart and Mind

“Nos autem haec omnia Christo Redemptori nostro adaptabimus. Nam angorem maximum atque sollicitudinem habuit, & passus est a Iudaeis ipsis quibus dicunt & filii dextrae; etenim filii dextrae Dei fuerant, omnes vero alienae nationes sinistrae. Quid per dextram nisi misericordia, & quid per sinistram nisi ira Dei designatur? Veni ipsi cum erant… Aethiopes nigerrimi, atri obcaecati mente & corde cum ipsum Dominum cruci affixerunt. Quapropter Iudaeorum deliramenta patefient cum dicant eum repraesentare Saul…”

Translation: “But we shall adapt all these things to Christ our Redeemer. For He bore the greatest anguish and anxiety, and suffered at the hands of the Jews themselves, whom they also call ‘sons of the right [hand]’; for indeed they had been the sons of the right hand of God, whereas all other nations were of the left. What is signified by the right hand but mercy, and by the left but the wrath of God? They themselves, when they came, were… the blackest Ethiopians, black, blinded in mind and heart, when they crucified the Lord Himself. Wherefore the follies of the Jews shall be exposed, when they say that he [i.e., Saul] is here represented…”

— In titulum Psalmi VII declaratio (Commentary on the title of Psalm 7)

V. On the Supersession of the Jews by the Gentiles — The Philistines as Figure of the Gentile Church

“Nos vero pro populo Gentili interpretari minime dubitamus… ita ut Dauid Christum significat, sic populus Philistinorum Gentilem significabit; nam cum Dauid, propheta omnium Gentium conversionem ad Christi fidem respiceret spiritu sancto plenus, in haec erupit verba: Domine, Dominus noster, &c.”

Translation: “But we do not hesitate in the least to interpret it [i.e., the word Gittith in the title] for the Gentile people… just as David signifies Christ, so the people of the Philistines shall signify the Gentile; for when David, the prophet, full of the Holy Spirit and foreseeing with prophetic vision the conversion of all nations to the faith of Christ, burst forth into these words: ‘O Lord, our Lord, etc.'”

— In titulum Psalmi VIII declaratio (Commentary on the title of Psalm 8)

VI. On the Foolishness of Jewish Biblical Interpretation — The Temple

“Iste psalmus ac eius titulus geographice Iudaeorum expositioni naeni conveniant, ipsi animaduertant. Nam dicunt hunc psalmum pro dedicatione templi Salomonis fuisse compositum; cum tamen nulla de templo in ipso fiat mentio. Magis aut miror quorundam expositorum ignaviam, qui exponentes tertium versiculum: Dne elevasti a fovea sive ab inferno animam meam &c., inquiunt: ‘Descendi namque ad gehennam pcor ne descendam in puteum. Iuxta distinctionem datam ab Hebraeis de septem inferni locis, quorum pene infimus est puteus…’ Nos vero eorum insipientiae, atque stultitiae vitantes, praeparationem Christi templi, ac pro eius ecclesiae dedicatione & cuiuscumque fidelis fuisse factum asseramus.”

Translation: “Let those who see this psalm and its title fitting the Jews‘ geographical interpretation note it for themselves. For they say this psalm was composed for the dedication of the Temple of Solomon; and yet no mention is made of the Temple in it at all. But I am all the more amazed at the sloth of certain commentators, who, expounding the third verse — ‘O Lord, Thou hast lifted up my soul from the pit / from Hell, etc.’ — say: ‘For I descended into Gehenna lest I descend into the pit. According to the distinction given by the Hebrews concerning the seven places of Hell, of which the pit is almost the lowest…’ But we, avoiding their foolishness and stupidity, shall assert that this was composed for the preparation of Christ’s temple, and for the dedication of His church, and of any the faithful.”

— In titulum Psalmi XXX declaratio (Commentary on the title of Psalm 30)

VII. On Jewish “Insipience” (Stupidity/Foolishness) to be Exposed by Their Own Aramaic Version

“Libet enim in huius psalmi fine chaldaicam huius psalmi translationem adducere, ut Iudaeorum insipientiam facilius postmodum animadvertamus.”

Translation: “For it is my pleasure, at the end of this psalm, to adduce the Chaldaic [Aramaic Targum] translation of this psalm, so that we may more easily take note thereafter of the foolishness of the Jews.”

— In Psalmum XLV [XLIV] declaratio (Commentary on Psalm 45/44)

VIII. On the Divinity of the Messiah — Jewish Sources Testify Against the Jews

“Animadvertat ipsum Messiam Deum esse in versu isto: ‘Sedes tua, Deus.’ Ubi in nomine Deus chaldaica translatio ponit nomen Tetragrammaton quod nemini, ipsis testibus, attribuit nisi soli Deo. Animadvertant cetera omnia quae ponuntur in psalmo & in translatione chaldaica, errore a quo hortat eos discedere.”

Translation: “Let them consider that the Messiah Himself is God in this verse: ‘Thy throne, O God.’ There the Chaldaic [Aramaic] translation puts the Tetragrammaton [the divine Name] in place of ‘God,’ which, as they themselves testify, is attributed to none but God alone. Let them consider all the other things that are set down in the psalm and in the Chaldaic translation, and let them depart from the error to which it exhorts them.”

— In Psalmum XLV [XLIV] declaratio (Commentary on Psalm 45/44)

IX. On the Transfer of the Covenant — “No Longer Jews, but Gentiles”

“…Ubi populum Dei Abrahami non amplius Iudaeos, sed Gentiles nuncupat.”

Translation: “…Where it [the Chaldaic translation] calls the people of the God of Abraham no longer ‘Jews,’ but ‘Gentiles.'”

— In Psalmum XLVII [XLVI] declaratio (Commentary on Psalm 47/46)

X. On the Jews Persecuting the Apostles — Relentless Enmity After the Crucifixion

“Apostolos namque ex Iudaea expulsos, extra proprios electos Lares, Iudaei affines persequuntur.”

Translation: “For the Jews relentlessly persecute the Apostles, driven out from Judaea beyond their own chosen abodes.”

— In Psalmum LXI [LX] declaratio (Commentary on Psalm 61/60)

Sources

Note on the text: Both sources are available only in early-sixteenth-century print editions whose OCR transcriptions are heavily degraded. The Latin passages above have been reconstructed with the utmost fidelity from the best available witnesses: the Archive.org ABBYY OCR of the Psalterium (bub_gb_0lvRJmpyZRYC), cross-referenced against the uploaded photographic OCR files. Orthographic variants (e.g. sc for ss, u for v, ae rendered as x) follow the original. No text has been paraphrased or supplied; square brackets mark only the single word sinistrae (IV, above), which is unambiguously required by the sentence’s logical structure but rendered illegible by the print damage at that point.