Ignaz Wurz (December 28, 1731 – August 28 or 29, 1784) was an Austrian

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest who taught

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

and published several dramas and textbooks.

Life

He was born in

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; Lower_Austria.html" ;"title=".e. Lower Austria">.e. Lower Austria , ) is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administr ...

, entered the Jesuit order in Vienna in 1747 at the age of 16, and soon moved to

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

to study philosophy, mathematics and theology. He taught school for several years, first at the Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt and later at Jesuit schools in Vienna. He taught both public speaking and written composition. His sermons were popular. The sermon he preached on the coronation day of Emperor Joseph II (April 3, 1764) was subsequently printed. It brought Wurz to the attention of university administrators in Vienna and led to his appointed as professor of "sacred eloquence" at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

's theology department. He remained in this post until in 1776, even after his order was abolished in 1773. Writing in 1850, Jakob Fluck ranked Wurz as the best teacher of Homiletics in the eighteenth century. He retired to parish work, administering the parish of Pierawart in Lower Austria until he died.

Publications

* Ode auf das hohe Geburtsfest Sr. K. Hoheit des Durchl. Fürsten Joseph. * Lobrede auf den sel. Simon de Roxas, 1767. * Dankrede auf die glückliche Genesung Marien Theresiens, 1767. * Lobrede auf den hl. Kilianus, 1770. * Lobrede auf den hl. Johann v. Nepomuk, 1770. * Lobrede auf den hl. Bonifazius, 1770. * Anleitung zur geistlichen Beredsamkeit, 1770–1772. * Anleitung zur geistlichen Beredsamkeit im Auszuge, 1776. * Anleitung zur geistlichen Beredsamkeit im Auszug, 1782. * Lob- und Gelegenheitsreden, 1785.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wurz, Ignaz Society of Jesus 1731 births 1784 deaths Rhetoric theorists People from Wiener Neustadt