Diodati, JEAN, a Calvinistic divine, was born at Geneva, 6th June 1576, became professor of Hebrew there in 1597, pastor of the reformed church in 1608, and in 1609, on the death of Beza, professor of Theology. He was a preacher at Nîmes from 1614 to 1617, and at the Synod of Dort was representative of Geneva. Diodati, whose family was originally of Lucca in Italy, tried in vain to introduce the reformed doctrine in Venice. He is remembered chiefly through his Italian translation of the Bible, issued (without imprint) at
Geneva in 1607, which was one of the best translations of the Reformation period, and is still in use. His Annotationes in Biblia (1607) are also of value. He died at Geneva, 3d October 1649. See Budé, Vie de Jean Diodati (Geneva, 1869).—A nephew, CHARLES DIODATI (circa 1608–38), is remembered as the friend of Milton. Son of a doctor who had settled in England, he was educated at St Paul's School, and Trinity College, Oxford, and for the last nine years of his life practised medicine near Chester and in Blackfriars.