Joseph Nirschl (b. at Durchfurth,

Lower Bavaria Lower Bavaria (german: Niederbayern, Bavarian: ''Niedabayern'') is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of the state. Geography Lower Bavaria is subdivided into two regions () – Landshut and Donau-W ...

, 24 February 1823; d. at

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the '' Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzbur ...

, 17 January 1904) was a German Catholic theologian and writer.

Life

He was ordained in 1851 and graduated as doctor of theology in 1854 at

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 ...

. He was appointed teacher of Christian doctrine at Passau in 1855 and in 1862 professor of church history and patrology. In 1879 he became professor of church history at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one o ...

, and was appointed dean of the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

in 1892.

Works

Of his numerous works, mostly on

patristics Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin ''pater'' and Greek ''patḗr'' (father). The period is generally considered to run from ...

, the most important are: *''Lehrbuch der Patrologie und Patristik'' (3 vols., Mainz, 1881-5); *''Ursprung und Wesen des Bosen nach der Lehre des hl. Augustinus'' (Ratisbon, 1854); *''Das Dogma der unbefleckten Empfangnis Maria'' (Ratisbon, 1855); *''Todesjahr des hl. Ignatius von Antiochien'' (Passau, 1869); *''Die Theologie des hl. Ignatius von Antiochien'' (Passau, 1869, and Mainz, 1880); *''Das Haus und Grab der hl. Jungfrau Maria'' (Mainz, 1900). He translated into German the

Epistles An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part ...

Ignatius of Antioch Ignatius of Antioch (; Greek: Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, ''Ignátios Antiokheías''; died c. 108/140 AD), also known as Ignatius Theophorus (, ''Ignátios ho Theophóros'', lit. "the God-bearing"), was an early Christian writer ...

(Kempten, 1870) and the ''Catecheses'' of

Cyril of Jerusalem Cyril of Jerusalem ( el, Κύριλλος Α΄ Ἱεροσολύμων, ''Kýrillos A Ierosolýmon''; la, Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus; 313 386 AD) was a theologian of the early Church. About the end of 350 AD he succeeded Maximus as Bishop of ...

(Kempten, 1871). He defended the genuineness of

pseudo-Dionysius Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (or Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite) was a Greek author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the ''Corpus Areopagiticum'' ...

and of the apocryphal letter of King Abgar of Edessa to Jesus.

References

Lauchert The Lauchert is a river in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, left tributary of the Danube. Its source is near Sonnenbühl, in the Swabian Alb. It is approx. 60 km long. It flows generally south through the small towns Gammertingen, Veringenstad ...

in ''Biogr. Jahrb. und deutscher Nekrolog'' (Vienna, 1904), 169 sq.

External links

''Catholic Encyclopedia'' article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nirschl, Joseph 1823 births 1904 deaths 19th-century German Catholic theologians 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers Academic staff of the University of Würzburg