Bessel, Gottfried Von
Bessel Gottfried Von
abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Gottwich, in Austria, was born Sept. 5, 1672, at Buchheim, in the electorate of Mentz. In 1714 he was made abbot of Gottwich, and in the year foliowing rector of the University of Vienna. In 1718 his monastery was burned down, but the valuable library was saved by his exertions, and shortly after he began to rebuild the abbey. He died Jan. 20, 1749. Bessel wrote, the learned Preface at the head of two letters of St. Augustine, addressed to St. Optatus, of Milevi, which Bessel discovered and published: De Poenis Parvulorunm ui sine Baptismate Decedunt (Vienna, 1733): Chronicon Gotwicense (Tegernsee, 1732, fol.). This last work is but a preliminary of the Anuals of Gottwich; it is a sort of treatise on the diplomata and MSS. of Germany, after the manner of Mabillon’s great work, De Re Diplomatica. It is said, however, that the true author was Francis Jos. de Hahn, afterwards bishop of Bamberg, of whom Bessel speaks in the Preface as his fellow-laborer. See Biog. Universelle, 4, 394.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Bessel, Gottfried Von
a learned Benedictine, was born Sept. 5, 1672, at Buchheim, Mayence. In 1692 he entered the Benedictine convent of Gottweich, near Vienna, where he died, Jan. 20, 1749. Being called to the court of Lother Franz, he was employed for diplomatic missions to Vienna, Rome, and Wolfenbuttel. He prevailed in 1710 upon the old and vain Duke Anton Ulrich, of Brunswick, to go over to the Church of Rome, the latter having previously urged his granddaughter Elizabeth to take the same step in order to become the wife of the Emperor Charles VI. On this occasion Bessel compiled the work Quinquaginta Romanocatholicam fidem omnibus aliis praeferendi motiva; also, in German, Funfzig Bedenken, etc. (Mayence, 1708). The work purports to be written by a former Protestant, and has, therefore, been wrongly ascribed for instance, by Augustin Theiner to Duke Anton Ulrich himself. He also began the publication of the Chronicon Goduicense, a work of great importance for the early church history of Austria; but he finished only the 1st vol. of it (Tegernsee, 17 32, fol.). Herzog, Real-Encyklop. 2, 114.