Joseph Ferdinand Damberger (1 March 1795 – 1 April 1859) was a historian of the Catholic Church. Damberger was born in Passau, Bavaria. After completing his earlier studies in the public schools of his native town, he pursued the study of law at Landshut, then studied theology at

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

, Landshut, and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, and was ordained a priest in 1818. While at the Munich Lyceum he had also devoted himself to historical studies. Until 1837 he was particularly active as a preacher at Landshut and at St. Cajetan's, Munich. His first historical works appeared in Ratisbon in 1831, three closely related narratives: ''Fürstentafel der Staatengeschichte''; ''Fürstenbuch zur Fürstentafel der europäischen Staatengeschichte''; ''Sechzig genealogische, chronologische und statistische Tabellen zur Fürstentafel und Fürstenbuch''. In 1837 he joined the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

, completed his novitiate at Brieg, canton of

Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the 26 cantons forming the S ...

, Switzerland, where he spent about ten years, partly as a mission-preacher and partly as professor of ecclesiastical history at Lucerne. A collection of his mission sermons was printed (Lucerne, 1842; 2nd ed., 1852), but was violently attacked (Missionsunfug der Jesuiten; Bern, 1842). The defeat of the

Sonderbund The Sonderbund War (german: Sonderbundskrieg, fr , Guerre du Sonderbund, it , Guerra del Sonderbund) of November 1847 was a civil war in Switzerland, then still a relatively loose confederacy of cantons. It ensued after seven Catholic canton ...

(1847) brought with it the expulsion of the Jesuits from Switzerland. Damberger then spent several years in Innsbruck and Regensburg, and in 1853 became confessor at the Convent of Schäftlarn in Bavaria, where he died. He was working on ''Synchronistische Geschichte der Kirche und der Welt im Mittelalter'' (Ratisbon, 1850–63). The last volume was finished and published after his death by Father Daniel Rattinger. The narrative reaches the year 1378.Synchronistische Geschichte der Kirke und der Welt
HathiTrust Digital Library In its day it was considered an important piece of work.

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Damberger, J 1795 births 1859 deaths 19th-century German Jesuits 19th-century German historians Historians of the Catholic Church People from Passau German male non-fiction writers