Martin Boos (25 December 176229 August 1825) was a German

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

Life

He was born at Huttenried in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. Orphaned at the age of four, he was reared by an uncle at

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

, who finally sent him to the

University of Dillingen The University of Dillingen, at Dillingen an der Donau in southern Germany, existed from 1551 to 1803. It was located in Swabia, then a district of Bavaria. Foundation Its founder was Cardinal Otto Truchsess von Waldburg, Prince-Bishop of Augsb ...

, where he studied under Sailer, Zimmer, and Weber. There he laid the foundation of the modest piety by which his whole life was distinguished. This cites his ''Life'' by J. Gossner (1831). He had followed the extreme practices of

asceticism Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing Spirituality, spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world ...

as a

penance Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of contrition for sins committed, as well as an alternative name for the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. The word ''penance'' derive ...

for

sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...

, all to no avail, as he believed, and then developed a doctrine of salvation by faith which came very near to pure

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

. This he preached with great effect. After serving as priest in several Bavarian towns, he was driven from Bavaria by the opposition of the ecclesiastical authorities and other priests. He made his way in 1799 to

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, where he was welcomed by Bishop Gall, and set to work first at

Leonding Leonding () is a town southwest of Linz in the States of Austria, Austrian state of Upper Austria. It borders Puchenau and the river Danube in the north, Wilhering and Pasching in the west, Traun in the south and Linz in the east. Leonding is the ...

and then at

Waldneukirchen Waldneukirchen is a municipality in the district of Steyr-Land in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Geography The extension of Waldneukirchen is 5.5 km from north to south and 8.5 km from west to east. 14.8% of the area is forested, 7 ...

, becoming in 1806 pastor at

Gallneukirchen Gallneukirchen (Central Bavarian: ''Goineikircha'') is a small town in the Austrian state of Upper Austria and is part of the district Urfahr-Umgebung. Motto ''Experience the city, enjoy the land – "Stadt erleben Land genießen (original)"' ...

. His

pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life. Although the movement is ali ...

ic movement won considerable way among the Catholic laity, and even attracted some fifty or sixty priests. The death of Gall and other powerful friends, however, exposed him to bitter enmity and persecution from about 1812, and he had to answer endless accusations in the consistorial courts. His enemies followed him when he returned to Bavaria, but in 1817 the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n government appointed him to a professorship at

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, and in 1819 gave him the pastorate at

Sayn Sayn was a small Germany, German county of the Holy Roman Empire which, during the Middle Ages, existed within what is today Rhineland-Palatinate, Rheinland-Pfalz. There have been two Counties of Sayn. The first emerged in 1139 and became closel ...

near

Neuwied Neuwied (, ) is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the Neuwied (district), District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt ...

. He died in 1825. His autobiography was edited by Johannes Gossner, Leipzig, 1831, Eng. transl., London, 1836, who also issued two volumes of his sermons Berlin, 1830.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boos, Martin 1762 births 1825 deaths 18th-century German Roman Catholic priests 18th-century German Catholic theologians 19th-century German Catholic theologians 19th-century German male writers 19th-century German writers German male non-fiction writers 18th-century German male writers 19th-century German Roman Catholic priests Clergy from Bavaria

Life

See also

References