Conrad Vetter (1547 – October 11, 1622) was a German Jesuit preacher and polemical writer.

Biography

Conrad was born at Engen in

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

. He entered the priesthood and vigorously championed the Catholic cause in speech and writing. While prefect of music in the collegiate church for nobles at

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...

, he became more thoroughly informed concerning the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

. As all he learned of it agreed with his desires, he asked to be received into the Society, and in 1576 entered the novitiate 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 ...

. After completing his studies he was made academic preacher at Munich, on account of his unusual gift for oratory. He subsequently preached for several years at

Ratisbon Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

, where many Lutherans were converted to the Catholic Church by his sermons. At the same time Vetter developed an extraordinary activity as a writer. He died at

on 11 October 1622.

Writings

It is stated that his writings, large and small, number nearly one hundred; they were chiefly polemical. Unfortunately the tone is ordinarily not very refined. Vetter used all the coarseness of which the Swabian tongue is capable to disparage Luther; so that involuntarily Luther's similar style is recalled. In spite of this, or perhaps exactly for this reason, the little books found a large sale and were often reprinted. Catholic contemporaries sought to defend Vetter's method of writing, among them was Duke Maximilian who defended him against the Count Palatine of Neuburg. He was highly regarded by the Dukes of

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 ...

, William V and Maximilian.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vetter, Conrad 1547 births 1622 deaths People from Engen 16th-century German Jesuits 17th-century German Jesuits