Pantaleon Candidus was a theologian of the Reformed Church and a

Neo-Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...

author. He was born on 7 October 1540 in Ybbs an der Donau and died on 3 February 1608 in

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...

Life and works

Pantaleon Weiss was born the 14th child of a landowning family in

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

. When he was 10 he was sent to be educated by Andreas Cupicius, a preacher with

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

leanings, at Weissenkirchen, and served his teacher when he was imprisoned during the persecutions of that time. The two escaped to

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, from where Pantaleon returned to continue his education with Vitus Nuber, abbot of Seisenstein, whom he followed when his patron fled to Germany. There he came under the protection of

Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken Count Palatine Wolfgang of Zweibrücken (german: Pfalzgraf Wolfgang von Zweibrücken; 26 September 1526 – 11 June 1569) was member of the Wittelsbach family of the Counts Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken from 1532. With the support of his r ...

, from whom he received a scholarship to

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students representing 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ...

, where he studied for seven years from 1558. It was during this time that he Latinised his name to Candidus under the influence of

Philip Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...

. Having served as secretary to the

Humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

Hubert Languet, and also as a schoolmaster, he eventually ordained as a minister and, having served for a while outside the city, became church superintendent in Zweibrücken in 1571. Formerly the church there had been

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 ...

, but following the death of Duke Wolfgang it turned to moderate

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

, with the support of Pantaleon. As well as theological and historical works, he wrote much poetry, including the fable collection ''Centum et quinquaginta fabulae'' (1604). There the poems are grouped by subject and briefly paraphrase the story, ending with a moral reflection.Most of the information here is taken from German Wikipedia and th
Christian Classics Ethereal Library
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Candidus, Pantaleon 16th-century German Protestant theologians 16th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians German male non-fiction writers 16th-century German male writers 17th-century German writers 17th-century German male writers