Eusebius Amort (November 15, 1692February 5, 1775) was a German

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

Life

Amort was born at Bibermuhle, near Tolz, in Upper

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. He studied at

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, and at an early age joined the

Canons Regular Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...

Polling Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Figurative head counts * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling places o ...

, where, shortly after his ordination in 1717, he taught theology and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

. The

Parnassus Boicus The Parnassus Boicus (Bavarian Mountain Muse) was a Bavarian learned society founded in 1722, and the name of a journal published by the society. Origins The society was based on a plan started in 1720 by three Augustinian fathers. Eusebius Amor ...

learned society was based on a plan started in 1720 by three Augustinian fathers: Eusebius Amort, Gelasius Hieber (1671–1731), a famous preacher in the

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...

and Agnellus Kandler (1692–1745), a genealogist and librarian. The initial plans fell through, but in 1722 they issued the first volume of the ''Parnassus Boicus'' journal, communicating interesting information from the arts and sciences. In 1733 Amort went to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

as theologian to

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Niccolo Maria Lercari (died 1757). He returned to Polling in 1735 and devoted the rest of his life to the revival of learning in Bavaria. He died at Polling in 1775.

Works

Amort, who had the reputation of being the most learned man of his age, was a voluminous writer on every conceivable subject, from

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

, from dogmatic theology to

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

. His best known works are: *A manual of theology in 4 vols, ''Theologia eclectica, moralis et scholastica'' (Augsburg, 1752; revised by

Pope Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758.Antipope ...

for the 1753 edition published at Bologna) *A defence of Catholic doctrine, entitled ''Demonstratio critica religionis Catholicae'' (Augsburg, 1751) *A work on indulgences, which has often been criticized by

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

writers, ''De Origine, Progressu, Valore, et Fructu Indulgentiorum'' (Augsburg, 1735) *A treatise on mysticism, ''De Revelationibus et Visionibus, etc.'' (2 vols, 1744) *The astronomical work ''Nova philosophiae planetarum et artis criticae systemata'' (Nuremberg, 1723). The list of his other works, including his three erudite contributions to the question of authorship of the ''Imitatio Christi'', will be found in C. Toussaint's scholarly article in Alfred Vacant's ''Dictionnaire de theologie'' (1900, cols 1115-1117).

References

Citations Sources * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amort, Eusebius 1692 births 1775 deaths 18th-century German Catholic theologians German male non-fiction writers 18th-century German writers 18th-century German male writers