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[German Version] In the papal interests of incorporating the religious poverty movement into the centralized discipline of the Roman church, Innocent I began in 1243 to combine smaller hermit groups under the Rule of St. Augustine (Augustine, Rule of). This unification into the “Ordo Eremitarum Sancti Augustini” (OESA) was completed under Alexander IV in 1256 with the bull “Licet ecclesi…

[German Version] (originally Jodocus Koch; Jun 5, 1493, Nordhausen – Oct 9, 1555, Eisfeld), Reformer. Around 1519, this jurist, who had been won for Humanism by H.E. Hessus and K. Muth, heeded the advice of Erasmus and turned to theology. At the same time, as rector of the University of Erfurt (II), he advocated a humanistic reform of the curriculum. Jonas joined the Reformation in 1521 when he accompanied Luther to the Diet of Worms. Appointed provost of the Wittenberg Allerheiligenstift in the s…

[German Version] ( Parsimonius; 1512/1513, Heroldingen – Nov 27, 1576, Ansbach) was a theologian of the Reformation. As superintendent of the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Karg was highly instrumental in the organization of its Protestant church from 1552 onward (catechism, 1564); between 1567 and 1570, ¶ internal Lutheran doctrinal disputes arose over his divergent doctrine of the imputation of Christ's passive obedience, only, in the act of justification. Hellmut Zschoch Bibliography H.-M. Weiss, Vom notwendigen Verstand der Lehre, 1991.

[German Version] (à Lasco; 1499, Łask – Jan 8, 1560, Pińczów). The scion of high Polish nobility, Laski received a broad Humanistic education as a young man. A period of study with Erasmus of Rotterdam in Basel in 1525 left an indelible impression on him. Political circumstances prevented a career in the church hierarchy of Poland. Contacts with Melanchthon in 1537 and A. Hardenberg in 1539 indicated his sympathy for the Reformation, which was recognized in 1542 when he was appointed superintenden…

[German Version] (Pigghe, Pighius; c. 1490, Kampen – Dec 29, 1542, Utrecht), Roman Catholic controversialist (Controversial theology). After a curial career begun in 1522 under Hadrian VI, his former teacher at Leuven, Pigge devoted himself in the 1530s to stabilizing the papal church in the Netherlands. In his most important work, Hierarchiae ecclesiae assertio (1538), he vigorously developed the theme of papal infallibility as a secure basis for the church’s teaching. In 1540/1541 he attended the disputations in Worms and Regensburg as papal obs…

[German Version] (Dec 8, 1506, Nuremberg – Mar 25, 1549, Nuremberg) came to Wittenberg as a student in 1522; from 1528, he lived in Luther's household and became his secretary and conversation partner. Dietrich accompanied Luther to the Colloquy of Marburg (1529; Disputations, religious) and to Castle ( Veste) Coburg (1530). In 1535, he accepted an appointment as pastor at the church of St. Sebald in his hometown, where he devoted himself to the organization of the Reformed church and to the dev…

[German Version] (c. 1370, Schöppingen – Feb 14, 1439, Münster, Westphalia). A few years after his ordination to the priesthood and shortly after the death of Florentius Radewyns, Henry of Ahaus came to Deventer in 1400, where he became acquainted with the religious life of the Brothers of the Common Life. Convinced that their spiritual way of life was the genuine priestly lifestyle, and resuming earlier efforts, he henceforth devoted himself to establishing this way of life in the Westphalian-Low…

[German Version] (late 13th cent., Hagenau – 1357, Vienna), OESA. Thomas studied in Padua c. 1316, ¶ then served as lector at the house of studies of the Augustinian Hermits in Strasbourg; in 1337 he earned his doctorate in theology at Paris. In 1343 he became the provincial of the Augustinians’ province of Rhineland-Swabia and in 1345 prior general of the order; in that office, he augmented the constitutions of 1290. His commentary on the Sentences, first printed in 1490, earned him a reputation as a comprehensible and incisive theological teacher. As a rule, he adopt…

[German Version] (c. 1439/1440, Burgsteinfurt – Dec 1498, Deventer, Netherlands). Hegius studied the artes liberales in Rostock beginning in 1456. As the director of schools affiliated with the Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life (1469 Wesel, 1474 Emmerich, after 1476 Deventer), Hegius placed pedagogy in the service of Humanism (friendship with R. Agricola from 1479) by teaching a method to approach Greek and Latin which is schooled in the ancient sources ¶ and observes the rules of rhetoric. Hegius exerted a strong influence on 16th-century German and Dutch Huma…

[German Version] (Katharina, née Schütz: 1497/1498, Straßburg [Strasbourg] – Sep 5, 1562, Straßburg; Matthäus: 1477, Kaysersberg – Jan 9, 1548, Straßburg). Matthäus, from 1518 a priest in Straßburg, became the city’s first clergyman to preach the Reformation in 1521; in 1523 he published his Christliche Verantwortung to justify his actions against ¶ accusations of heresy made by the bishop. He was an eloquent preacher, but as a theologian he stood in the shadow of M. Bucer, W. Capito, and K. Hedio. Late in 1523, he married Katharina Schütz, the d…

[English Version] 1.  Johannes (1502/03 Nidda – 25.1.1583 ebd.), hessischer Reformator, seit 1526 Pfarrer von Nidda, 1541–1580 zugleich Superintendent von Alsfeld. P. widmete sich lebenslang der Einführung und der Konsolidierung des reformatorischen Kirchenwesens in Hessen. 1538/39 war er an der Ausarbeitung der Ziegenhainer Zuchtordnung und der Kasseler Kirchenordnung sowie eines – vergleichsweise milden – Ratschlags zur Behandlung der hessischen Juden beteiligt. Im Auftrag des Landgrafen Philipp n…