Alphonse Mingana

Alphonse Mingana (born as Hurmiz Mingana; Syriac: ܗܪܡܙ ܡܢܓܢܐ‎, in 1878 at Sharanesh, a village near Zakho (present day Iraq) - died 5 December 1937 Birmingham, England) was an Assyrian theologian, historian, Syriacist, orientalist and a former priest who is best known for collecting and preserving the Mingana Collection of ancient Middle Eastern manuscripts at Birmingham. Like the majority of Assyrians in the Zakho region, his family belonged to the Chaldean Catholic Church. Alphonse was born to Paolus and Maryam Nano, and had seven siblings.

Alphonse Mingana
ܐܠܦܘܢܨ ܡܢܓܢܐ
Born1878
Sharanesh, Ottoman Empire
Died(1937-12-05)5 December 1937
(aged 59)
Birmingham, England
Occupationtheologian, historian, orientalist

His reputation was attested to by Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII[1] in a scathing testimony of Mingana in his Homilies of Mar Narsai Vol. 1 (San Francisco - 1970), where part of the lengthy footnote 46 on page Li states: "It should be pointed out that Mingana was not the only Chaldean priest who prostituted his learning and consience in order to ingratiate himself with his Latin masters. This is true of all the Chaldeans who have edited and published the literature of the Church of the East."

Arrival in England

In 1913 Mingana came to England at the invitation of J. Rendel Harris, Director of Studies at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, a Quaker Settlement at Selly Oak in Birmingham. Mingana remained at Woodbrooke for two years where he met his future wife, Emma Sophie Floor, a Norwegian student. The couple were married in 1915. In the same year Mingana was appointed to the staff of the John Rylands Library in Manchester to catalogue the Library's collection of Arabic manuscripts. He lived in Manchester until 1932 during which time his two children, John and Marie, were born. By the time Mingana left John Rylands in 1932 he had risen to the post of Keeper of the Oriental Manuscripts.

The Mingana Collection
Main article: Mingana Collection

In 1924 Mingana made the first of three trips to the Middle East to collect ancient Syriac and Arabic manuscripts. The expedition was sponsored by John Rylands Library and Dr Edward Cadbury, the Quaker owner of the famous chocolate factory at Bournville, who Mingana had met through Rendel Harris. A number of the manuscripts he returned with formed the basis of the Mingana Collection at Woodbrooke. Mingana added to the collection with manuscripts acquired on two further trips to the Middle East in 1925 and 1929, both trips were financed solely by Edward Cadbury. In 1932 Mingana moved back to Birmingham to focus on cataloging the collection. The first catalogue describing 606 Syriac manuscripts was published in 1933. A further volume published in 1936 describes 120 Christian Arabic manuscripts and 16 Syriac manuscripts. The third volume, cataloging 152 Christian Arabic manuscripts and 40 Syriac manuscripts was published in 1939, two years after Mingana's death.

The Mingana Collection is housed at Special Collections at the University of Birmingham[2] where it is available for study.[3] The collection is designated by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council as being of international importance.

Papers of Alphonse Mingana, including his correspondence, notebooks, reports and other items, are also held at the Cadbury Research Library (reference number DA66).[4]

Selected publications
Catalogue
  • 1934: Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, Manchester. 1192 p. Manchester: Manchester University Press

References and sources
References
  1. Homilies of Mar Narsai vol. 1. 1970.
  2. "Cadbury Research Library - Special Collections". University of Birmingham.
  3. Special Collections at www.special-coll.bham.ac.uk
  4. "UoB Calmview5: Search results". calmview.bham.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
Sources
  • Coakley, J. F. (1993) A Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, Vol. 75, No. 2, Summer 1993.
  • Hunt, Lucy-Anne (1997) The Mingana and Related Collections Birmingham: Edward Cadbury Charitable Trust
  • Margoliouth, D. S. & Woledge, G. (1939) A. Mingana: a Biography and Bibliography. Birmingham: Selly Oak Colleges
  • Samir, Kahil Samir. "Alphonse Mingana 1878-1937" (PDF). Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, 1990. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-12.
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