Johann Heß (or Hess) (23 September 1490 – 5 January 1547) was a German

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

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 ...

and Protestant Reformer of Breslau (Wroclaw). Heß was born in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

. He attended the universities of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north o ...

, where he was taught in jurisprudence and liberal arts. In Wittenberg he became a follower of

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

, and stayed in touch with the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

when he relocated to Neisse (Nysa) in 1513 as the secretary of Johannes V. Thurzo, bishop of Breslau. In 1518 Heß moved to

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

to study theology, completing his studies there in 1519. On the way back to

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

he stopped in

and became a friend of Philipp Melanchthon. In 1520 he was ordained to the priesthood and in 1523 Heß was pressed by the city council of Breslau (probably at the instigation of

Laurentius Corvinus Laurentius Corvinus (german: Laurentius Rabe; pl, Wawrzyniec Korwin; 1465–1527) was a Silesian scholar who lectured as an "extraordinary" (''i.e.'' untenured) professor at the University of Krakow when Nicolaus Copernicus began to study ther ...

) to become pastor of St. Maria Magdalena church. In the coming years he slowly introduced Protestant teachings in Breslau, presenting his ideas in a

disputation In the scholastic system of education of the Middle Ages, disputations (in Latin: ''disputationes'', singular: ''disputatio'') offered a formalized method of debate designed to uncover and establish truths in theology and in sciences. Fixed ru ...

at St Dorothy's monastery at Breslau in 1524. His careful approach even normalized the relationship to Catholic bishop Jakob von Salza. Theologically he,

Ambrosius Moibanus Ambrosius or Ambrosios (a Latin adjective derived from the Ancient Greek word ἀμβρόσιος, ''ambrosios'' "divine, immortal") may refer to: Given name: *Ambrosius Alexandrinus, a Latinization of the name of Ambrose of Alexandria (before 21 ...

, pastor of St. Elisabeth church, and the city council of Breslau sided with Wittenberg and opposed Caspar Schwenckfeld and his followers in Liegnitz (Legnica). In 1541 he took part in the

Conference of Regensburg The Colloquy of Regensburg, historically called the Colloquy of Ratisbon, was a conference held at Regensburg (Ratisbon) in Bavaria in 1541, during the Protestant Reformation, which marks the culmination of attempts to restore religious unity in t ...

. In 1547 Heß died in Breslau.

References

*Julius Köstlin, ‘Johann Heß, der Breslauer Reformator’, ''Zeitschrift des Vereins für Geschichte und Alterthum Schlesiens'' 6 (1864), pp. 97–131, 181-265. *Adolf Henschel, ''Dr. Johannes Heß der Breslauer Reformator.'' Schriften für das deutsche Volk 37 (Halle: Verein für Reformationsgeschichte, 1901). *'' Neue Deutsche Biographie'' (NDB), Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, München, Bd. 9, pp. 7–8. *Grantley McDonald, ‘Laurentius Corvinus and the Epicurean Luther’, ''Lutheran Quarterly'' 22 (2008), pp. 161–76. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Johann 1490 births 1547 deaths 16th-century German Lutheran clergy Clergy from Nuremberg German Protestant Reformers Leipzig University alumni University of Wittenberg alumni University of Bologna alumni