Bernhard Pez (22 February 1683, at

Ybbs Ybbs () is a river in Lower Austria. Its drainage basin is . Its source is located on the Zellerrain Pass near Mariazell. In the beginning, the river is called , then onwards from the border between Lower Austria and Styria up to Lunz am See it i ...

near

Melk Melk (; older spelling: ) is a city of Austria, in the federal state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,257 (as of 2012). It is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery ...

– 27 March 1735, at Melk, Lower Austria) was an Austrian

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

historian and librarian.

Life

He studied at

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and Krems, and in 1699 entered

Melk Abbey Melk Abbey (german: Stift Melk) is a Benedictine abbey above the town of Melk, Lower Austria, Austria, on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube river, adjoining the Wachau valley. The abbey contains the tomb of Saint Coloman of Stockerau and the ...

. Having studied the classical languages, he was made professor in the Melk monastery school in 1704, and in the same year went to the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, where he studied theology. In 1708 he was ordained priest. He took up history, and in 1713, became librarian at Melk. As a model for his historical works he followed the French Maurists. He studied the archives of the order at Melk and Vienna, and in 1715-17 he, with his brother

Hieronymus Pez Hieronymus Pez (24 February 1685 – 14 October 1762) was an Austrian Benedictine librarian and historian. Pez was born at Ybbs. In 1703 he entered the novitiate at Melk Abbey, and was ordained in 1711. He became assistant to his brother Bern ...

, searched for manuscripts in the Austrian, Bavarian, and Swabian monasteries. In 1716 he published a plan for a universal Benedictine library, in which all the authors of the order, and their works, should be catalogued and reviewed. He obtained from the monasteries of his order no less than seven hundred and nine titles. He also had friendly literary relations with

Johann von Eckhart Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

, Schannat, Uffenbach, Schmincke, Mosheim, Lünig etc. In 1728 he accompanied Count Sinzendorf to France, where he made the acquaintance of Montfaucon, Martène Durand, Le Texier, Calmet etc., and enriched his collection from the libraries of the order.

Works

His chief works are: *"Thesaurus anecdotorum novissimus" (6 fol. vol., Augsburg, 1721-9), a collection of exegetic, theological, philosophical, ascetic, and historical literary sources; *"Bibliotheca ascetica" (12 vols., 1723–40), containing the sources of ascetic literature; *"Bibliotheca Benedictino-Maruiana" (1716). In a controversy with the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

he defended his order with the "Epistolæ apologeticæ pro Ordine S. Benedicti", 1716. In 1725 he published "Homilien des Abtes Gottfried von Admont (1165)", in two vols., and the minor philosophical works of Abbot

Engelbert von Admont Engelbert (c. 1250 – 12 May 1331) was Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Admont in Styria. Life He was born of noble parents at Volkersdorf in Styria, and entered the monastery of Admont about 1267. Four years later he was sent to Prague t ...

. His proposed monumental work, "Bibliotheca Benedictina Generalis", was never completed. His manuscript material is partly made use of in the "Historia rei literariæ O.S.B." by Ziegelbauer-

Legipont Oliver Legipont (2 December 1698, at Soiron, Limburg – 16 January 1758, at Trier) was a German Benedictine bibliographer. Life Having received his early education from the Franciscans at Verviers, he proceeded for higher studies to Cologne. Ther ...

(1754). His manuscripts were preserved at Melk.

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pez, Bernhard 1683 births 1735 deaths Austrian Benedictines