Eusebius Amort
Eusebius Amort (November 15, 1692 – February 5, 1775) was a German Roman Catholic theologian.
Life
Amort was born at Bibermuhle, near Tolz, in Upper Bavaria. He studied at the Jesuit College in Munich, and at an early age joined the Canons Regular at Polling, where, shortly after his ordination in 1717, he taught theology and philosophy.[1] The Parnassus Boicus learned society was based on a plan started in 1720 by three Augustinian fathers: Eusebius Amort, Gelasius Hieber (1671–1731), a famous preacher in the German language and Agnellus Kandler (1692–1745), a genealogist and librarian. The initial plans fell through, but in 1722 they issued the first volume of the Parnassus Boicus journal, covering topics in the arts and sciences.[2]
An academy formed by him at Polling became in time the model on which was based the Academy of Sciences of Munich.
In 1733 Amort went to Rome as theologian to Cardinal Niccolo Maria Lercari (died 1757). He returned to Polling in 1735 and devoted the rest of his life to the revival of learning in Bavaria. He died at Polling in 1775.[1]
Works
Amort, who had the reputation of being the most learned man of his age, was a voluminous writer on every conceivable subject, from poetry to astronomy, from dogmatic theology to mysticism. His best known works are:
- A manual of theology in 4 vols, Theologia eclectica, moralis et scholastica (Augsburg, 1752; revised by Pope Benedict XIV for the 1753 edition published at Bologna)
- A defence of Catholic doctrine, entitled Demonstratio critica religionis Catholicae (Augsburg, 1751)
- A work on indulgences, which has often been criticized by Protestant writers, De Origine, Progressu, Valore, et Fructu Indulgentiorum (Augsburg, 1735)
- The astronomical work Nova philosophiae planetarum et artis criticae systemata (Nuremberg, 1723).[3]
A treatise on mysticism, De Revelationibus et Visionibus, etc. (2 vols, Augsburg 1744) was directed against the "Mystic City of God," by the Spanish Franciscan nun, Maria de Agreda, and brought him into conflict with several of her Franciscan defenders.
The list of his other works, including his three erudite contributions to the question of authorship of the Imitatio Christi, will be found in C. Toussaint's scholarly article in Alfred Vacant's Dictionnaire de theologie (1900, cols 1115–1117).[4]
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Eusebius Amort, philosopher and theologian, b. at Bibermühle in Bavaria, 15 November, 1692; d. at Polling, 5 February, 1775. He was educated by the Jesuits at Munich and at an early age joined the Canons Regular in the convent of Polling, where he spent most of his life as a teacher of philosophy, theology, and canon law, a tireless student in many departments of ecclesiastical lore, and an investigator of natural phenomena. He was foremost among the German theologians of the eighteenth century as a guide and an inspirer of ecclesiastical youth, and may be considered a model of lifelong devotion to all the sciences that befit an ecclesiastic. As early as 1722 he founded, and with some interruptions carried on for several years, an influential review, "Parnassus Boicus, oder Neueröffneter Musenberg." An academy formed by him at Polling became in time the model on which was based the Academy of Sciences of Munich. He spent the years 1733–35 at Rome, whence he returned to Bavaria enriched with precious knowledge acquired by intense study in the libraries of the Eternal City and by intercourse with many learned men. Thenceforth he counted among his correspondents such scholars as Benedict XIII and Benedict XIV, Father Concina, Cardinals Leccari, Galli, Orsi, St. Alphonsus Liguori, and others. For a period of forty years his pen was never idle, and from it unceasingly poured forth learned volumes and brochures filled with rare and choice learning.
It has been truly said that his seventy volumes, if distributed in an orderly collection, would resemble a general encyclopedia. As a philosopher, he is best known by his solid work "Philosophia Pollingana" (Augsburg, 1730) and by his "Wolfiana Judicia de philosophiâ et Leibnitianâ physicâ" (Frankfurt, 1736). As a dogmatic theologian and Christian apologist he won applause by his "Demonstratio critica religionis catholicæ nova, modesta, facilis" etc. (Venice, 1744), written to promote the reunion of the Protestant sects with the Catholic Church, and by his "De origine, progressu, valore et fructu indulgentiarum accurata notitia historica, dogmatica, critica" (Augsburg, 1735). His most extensive work, "Theologia eclectica, moralis et scholastica," published at Augsburg (1752) in four folio volumes, and later at Bologna (1753) in twenty-four octavo volumes, merited the honour of a revision by Benedict XIV. He wrote also "Theologia moralis inter rigorem et laxitatem media" (Augsburg, 1739), "Ethica Christiana" (Augsburg, 1758), and other moral treatises. St. Alphonsus Liguori admired his theological prudence, and Gury calls him a "probabilista moderatus doctrinâ et sapientia clarus"; others (e.g. Toussaint) accuse him of an inclination to rigorism in practice. He translated into Latin the "Dictionnaire des cas de conscience" of Pontas (Venice, 1733), but modified its Gallican tone and rigoristic views.
Of his canonical works the most important is his "Vetus Disciplina canonicorum et regularium" (Venice, 1748), "Elementa juris canonici veteris et moderni" (Ulm, 1757), both valuable for their wealth of historical material. In the latter he defends ecclesiastical jurisdiction against the attacks of contemporary jurists and statesmen. The best known of his works is entitled "De revelationibus, visionibus et apparitionibus privatis regulæ tutæ ex Scripturâ, Conciliis, Sanctis Patribus aliisque optimis auctoribus collectæ, explicatæ atque exemplis illustratæ (Augsburg, 1744). It was directed against the "Mystic City of God," the famous work of the Spanish Franciscan nun, Maria de Agreda, and brought him into conflict with several of her Franciscan defenders. This learned scholar found time to prepare for the people a number of devotional works. His prayer-books, "Kurz und Gut" and "Brevier eines guten Christen," went through many editions. He also compiled select lives of the saints and wrote a German treatise (Venice, 1756) on the invocation of the saints, besides a smaller and a larger catechism. In the discussions waged during the first half of the eighteenth century concerning the authorship of the "De Imitatione Christi," Amort stood forth as an ardent supporter of the claims of Thomas à Kempis, though his seven works on the subject, praised for their "rare learning and judicious temper," failed to silence the Benedictine champions of Jean Gersen. The more important are: "Scutum Kempense" (Cologne, 1725); "Plenâ et succinctâ informatio de statu totius controversiæ" (Augsburg, 1725), and "Certitudo moralis pro Th. Kempensi" (Ratisbon, 1764). On his portrait by Jungwirth was engraved "Litterarum maxime sacrarum per Bavariam restaurator eximius." The visitor to Bibermühle may now contemplate a marble monument in honour of a theologian in whom industry, erudition, critical skill, and piety were united in a high degree.
De Feller, Biogr. Univ. (Paris, 1845), III, 45; Westermayr, in Kirchenlex., I, 754–757; Toussaint, in Dict. de theol. cath., I, 1115–17; Hist. polit. Blätter, LXXVI, 107; Hurter, Nomenclator (Innsbruck, 1895), III, 201; Baader, Das gelehrte Bayern (Nuremberg, 1804), I, 20.
Thomas J. Shah.
References
- Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Chisholm 1911, p. 876.
- Back to citation Blackall 1954, p. 98.
- Back to citation Chisholm 1911, pp. 876–877.
- Back to citation Chisholm 1911, p. 877.
Bibliography
Sources
- Blackall, Eric A. (January 1954). "The Parnassus Boicus and the German Language". German Life and Letters. 7 (2): 98–108. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0483.1954.tb01121.x.