Joseph Mezger (5 September 1635 – 26 October 1683) 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 ...
of
St. Peter's Archabbey, Salzburg
St Peter's Abbey (german: Stift Sankt Peter), or St Peter's Archabbey (German: ''Erzabtei Stift Sankt Peter'', la, Archiabbatia sancti Petri Salisburgensis), is a Benedictine monastery and former cathedral in the Austrian city of Salzburg. It is ...
.
Life
Mezger was born at
Eichstädt
Eichstädt is a village in Brandenburg, Germany. It is not to be confused with Eichstätt, Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an a ...
. He took vows at the same time as his brother
Francis Mezger in 1651, and was ordained priest in 1659. He taught poetry in the gymnasium of Salzburg in 1660, and was master of novices and sub-prior in his monastery in 1661. He then taught philosophy at the
University of Salzburg
The University of Salzburg (german: Universität Salzburg), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university in Salzburg municipality, Salzburg state, named af ...
, 1662–4; apologetics and polemics, 1665–7; and canon law, 1668–73. He was prior of his monastery and taught hermeneutics and polemics, 1673–8, when he was appointed
vice-chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...
of the university. He died at the
monastery of St. Gall, while on a pilgrimage to
Einsiedeln
Einsiedeln () is a municipality and district in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland known for its monastery, the Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey, established in the 10th century.
History Early history
There was no permanent settlement in the area ...
.
He was an intimate friend of
Mabillon
Dom Jean Mabillon, O.S.B., (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics.
Early life
Mabi ...
with whom he kept up a constant correspondence and who in his "Iter Germanicum" calls him "Universitatis Salisburgensis præcipuum ornamentum" (Vetera Analecta, I, xi).
Works
His major work is "Historia Salisburgensis" covering the period from 582 to 1687, of which work he, however, had written only the first four books (582-1555) when he died, leaving the remainder to be completed by his brothers, Francis and
Paul Mezger. In 1664 he published at Salzburg his four philosophical treatises:
* (1) "Considerationes de scientiis et de modis sciendi in genere";
* (2) "Axiomata physica quæstionibus problematicis distincta";
* (3) "Quatuor gradus naturæ: esse, vivere, sentire, intelligere";
* (4) "Unitas et distinctio rerum quæstionibus philosophicis explicata".
His other works are:
*"Tabula bipartita successionis ecclesiasticæ tam ex testamento quam ab intestato" (Salzburg, 1670);
*"Panacæa juris" (ib. 1673);
*"Lapis mysticus et cornu parvulum Daniels" (ib., 1677, 1682);
*"Institutiones in sacram scripturam" (ib., 1680);
*"Assertio antiquitatis ecclesiæ metropolitanæ Salisburgensis et monasterii S. Petri, O. S. Ben." (ib., 1682).
References
;Attribution
* The entry cites:
**, Collect.-Blätter zur Gesch. der ehemaligen Benedictiner-Universität Salzburg (Kempten, 1890), 212–218;
**, Professbuch der Benedictiner Abtei S. Peter in Salzburg (Salsburg, 1906), 53–58, 65–68.
**Andreas Strauss, Viri scriptis, eruditione ac pietate insignes, quos genuit vel aluit Eichstadium (Eichstädt, 1790), 326–331.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mezger, Joseph
1635 births
1683 deaths
Austrian Benedictines
17th-century Austrian writers
Academic staff of the University of Salzburg