Sailer, Johann Michael
Sailer, Johann Michael
Professor of theology and Bishop of Ratisbon, b. at Aresing in Upper Bavaria 17 October, 1751; d. 20 May, 1832, at Ratisbon. Sailer was the son of a poor shoemaker. Until his tenth year he attended the primary school in his native place; after this he was a pupil in the gymnasium at Munich. In 1770 he entered the Society of Jesus at Landsberg in Upper Bavaria as a novice; upon the suppression of the Society in 1773 he continued his theological and philosophical studies at Ingolstadt. In 1775 he was ordained priest; 1777-80 he was a tutor of philosophy and theology, and from 1780 second professor of dogmatics at Ingolstadt. Along with many others, he lost his position in 1781 when the Elector Charles Theodore transferred theological instruction to the monasteries. In the years 1781-84 while engaged in literary work he attracted the attention of the elector and Bishop Clement Wenceslaus. In 1794 the latter called Sailer to Dillingen as professor of pastoral theology and ethics, a position which Sailer held for ten years and which brought him a high reputation. His opponents, professors of Dillingen and Rossle, the principal of the school at Pfaffenhausen, succeeded in limiting Sailer’s activities in 1793 and in securing his sudden dismissal in 1794. Sailer now went to visit his friend Winkelhofer at Munich, and pursued there by his opponents, went to the house of his friend Beck at Ebersberg. Here he devoted himself to literary work until, in 1799, he was called to a professorship at Ingolstadt. In 1800 he was transferred along with the university to Landshut. Here he taught pastoral and moral theology, pedagogics, homiletics, liturgy, and catechetics; celebrated as a teacher and a writer he was repeatedly called to other positions, was on terms of friendship with distinguished Catholics and Protestants, and was universally revered by his pupils, among whom was the Crown Prince Louis, later King of Bavaria. In 1818 Sailer declined the offer of the Prussian Government to have him appointed Archbishop of Cologne; in 1819 the Bavarian Government, through the influence of the Crown Prince Louis, nominated him as Bishop of Augsburg, but the nomination was rejected by Rome. In 1821, however, after he had sufficiently justified himself, he was appointed cathedral canon of Ratisbon, in 1822 auxiliary bishop and coadjutor with right of succession, in 1825 cathedral provost, and in 1829 Bishop of Ratisbon.
The age in which Sailer lived was dominated by the “Enlightenment”, which in its radical form disputed the fundamental dogmas of Christianity, and was characterized by externalism, contempt for Christian mysticism, worldliness of the clergy, degradation of the pulpit by the treatment of secular topics, relaxation of ecclesiastical discipline, denial of the primacy of papal jurisdiction, efforts of the State to gain control of the Church, turbulent reforms within the Church, and a one-sided training of the mind in education. In opposition to these destructive tendencies Sailer came to the defense of faith in Christ and in the fundamental principles of Christianity, striving for an inner, living, practical Christianity, for a faith that should manifest itself in charity, for the maintenance of godliness (Christian mysticism), and for the training of a pious and intelligent clergy. He also insisted that the pulpit should be reserved solely for the preaching of the Gospel, and that the bishops should be in union with the pope; he upheld the primacy of the papal jurisdiction, and defended the freedom and rights of the Church against the encroachments of the State. Ecclesiastical reform he ardently desired, not, however, through unauthorized agencies but by the appointed organs of the Church; and he demanded that education should aim at training both mind and will. Sailer labored for the Christian ideal by his winning personality, by his utterances as teacher, parish priest, and preacher, and by his numerous works that were philosophical, theological, devotional, and biographical in character.
Thus Sailer brought back large numbers of people to Chrlstianity and the Church. Notwithstanding his fruitful activity and his benevolence, Sailer had antagonists who opposed him partly from jealousy, partly from misunderstanding and ill-will; he was accused of heterodoxy, indifferentism, and mysticism. If Sailer is judged in connection with his times, these reproaches are without foundation. In his day Sailer was a pillar of the Church. A perfectly correct judgment of Sailer has been expressed by Goyau in “L’Allemagne religieuse” (Paris,1905): “With Sailer German piety, both Protestant and Catholic, learned again to pray. This is the peculiar characteristic of his activity. Do not expect from him any religious polemics; he abhorred them; what he really cherished was the idea of a sort of coöperation of the various Christian bodies against the negations of infidelity. Sailer made a breach in Rationalism, by opposing to it a piety in which both Christian bodies could unite” (pp. 294, 295). The best edition of his works is “J.M. Sailers samtliche Werke unter Anleitung des Verfassers”, ed. Joseph Widmer, 40 vols., Sulzbach, 1830-41; supplementary volume, 1845.
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SAILER, Selbstbiographie (1819), vol. XIX of collected works; VON SCHENK, Die Bischofe Sailer u. Wittmann in Charitas (1838); VON SCHMID, Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben (2 vols., Augshurg, 1853); LUTOLF, Leben u. Bekenntnisse des Jos. L. Schiffmann, ein Beitrag zur Charakteristik Sailers u. seiner Schule in der Schweiz (Lucerne, I860); AICHINGER, J.M. Sailer (Freising, 1865); JOCHAM, Dr. Alois Buchner, ein Lebensbild zur Verstandigung uber J.M. Sailers Priesterschule (Augsburg, 1870); VON MULLER, Jean Paul u. Sailer als Erzieher der deutschen Nation (Munich 1908); KL0TZ, Sailer als Moralphilosoph (Paderborn, 1908); RADLMAIER, J.M. Sailer als Padagog (Berlin, 1909); STOLZLE, J.M. Sailer u. seine Bedeutung in Hochland (1910); IDEM, J.M. Sailers Schriften, ausgewahlt u. eingeleitet (Kempten and Munich, 19lO); IDEM, J.M. Sailer, seine Massregelung an der Akademie zu Dillingen u. seine Berufung nach Ingolstadt; ein Beitrag zu Gelehrtengesch. aus dem Zeitalter der Aufklarung (Kempten and Munich, 1910).
R. STOLZLE Transcribed by Joseph E. O’Connor
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Sailer, Johann Michael
a Roman Catholic bishop of Ratisbon, the originator of a tendency in German Catholicism, and one of the purest and noblest theologians of the Church universal. His life lies between Nov. 17, 1751, and May 20, 1832. He was born near Schrobenhausen, in the bishopric of Augsburg, of upright, devout parents. His mother left upon his young heart an impression for which he expressed public thanks to the end of his days. His readiness in learning induced his father to send him in his tenth year to school at Munich. For five or six years he earned his way as attendant on a young nobleman. Having finished his gymnasium studies at the age of nineteen, he entered as Novitiate into the Jesuit Society at Landsberg, and passed three very studious years. On the dissolution of the order (1773), he went to Ingolstadt, and pursued philosophy and theology until 1777, when he was consecrated to the priesthood.
Up to his sixteenth year, Sailer suffered under a tender and often upbraiding conscience. But, finding a wise spiritual guide, he was now led to a clear, evangelical conversion. At his eighteenth year he was troubled with historical doubts. An aged missionary from India helped him, happily, over these. But other, even severer, temptations beset him subsequently. In 1777 he became repetitor publicus of philosophy and theology at Ingolstadt. Here he formed intimate bonds with the zealous and devout pastor Feneberg, and with Winkelhofer, the German Fenelon. In 1780 he was promoted to the chair of dogmatics. He now began his public literary activity, and published notes to the Imitatio Christi, also a prayer book, which has enjoyed great popularity, and a discussion of the province of reason. From 1784 to 1794 he served as professor of pastoral theology at the University of Dillingen a very fruitful period. He planted evangelical principles in the hearts of thousands of students, who in turn spread them throughout German Catholicism. He formed religious friendships with many eminent Protestants, especially Lavater, and with all who were earnestly upholding religion against the inflooding of rationalism. This finally brought persecution upon Sailer, and in 1794 he was abruptly dismissed from his chair. For a while he shared the hospitality of Winkelhofer in Munich, but then retired into greater privacy at Ebersberg. The next six years brought to Sailer great spiritual temptations. He was brought into the stream of earnest evangelical mysticism which centerd in Martin Boos; but he was not entirely carried captive by it. Partially convinced that he still retained something of the Pharisee and formalist, yet unable to break entirely away from Catholic tradition, he finally sought refuge and consolation in fervent prayer and active labor upon the souls of men. Not fully rising to the subjective self assertion of Luther, he yet clung with his whole heart to Christ, and followed the examples of Fenelon and Francis de Sales. His piety resembled that of Charles Wesley, while his adhesion to Catholicism, though less passionate, was yet of the same type as Charles Wesley’s devotion to the Establishment.
In 1799, Sailer was again favored with a chair in Ingolstadt. The next year the university was removed to Landshut. Here he labored with great fruitfulness until 1821. He lectured on ethics, pastoral theology, homiletics, pedagogics, liturgies, and served as university preacher. His pen was also very busy. He attracted students from every part of Germany, and received many tempting calls to other fields, one of them to the archbishopric of Cologne; but he declined them all. Even yet he did not entirely escape persecution and abuse; but he bore it all with the greatest patience, holding as his motto the words of the prophet (Jer 30:15), In spe et silentio erit fortitudo vestra. While Napoleon accused him of being a bigoted papist, the pope distrusted him and refused to confirm him as bishop of Augsburg. Accused of mysticism and of fraternization with Protestants, he published, in 1820, a detailed defense of all that he had done or taught, and submitted the whole to the judgment of the pope, following the example of the great Fenelon. This document did not fully satisfy Rome, and it was only after considerable negotiation that the king of Bavaria obtained papal consent to his ecclesiastical preferment. In 1821 he was made prebendary of Ratisbon, and in 1822 vicar-general and coadjutor of the aged bishop Von Wolf; at the same time he was made bishop in partibus of Germanicopolis. With great conscientiousness he now entered upon the weighty duties of this great diocese of Ratisbon. Everywhere he endeavored to look into matters with his own eyes, and to correct all abuses to the extent of his ability. He held regular meetings with all his clergy, and endeavored to improve the popular education. In 1829 he became in name what he had long been in reality, bishop of Ratisbon. Three years later he died at the age of eighty- one. A complete edition of his works was published by J. Widmer (Sulzb. 1830-42) in forty volumes. Among them the following deserve special mention: Briefe aus allen Jahrhunderten (1800-4): Grundlehren der Religion: Moralphilosophie: Erziehung fur Erzieher: Die Weisheit auf der Gasse: Pastoraltheologie: and many sermons and addresses. Though lacking in profound speculative power, Sailer’s writings have yet had a very wide and very stimulating influence. He has been compared to Herder, but he had far more respect than Herder for the objective fruit of ecclesiastical thought. He endeavored in all things to practice the maxim In necessarsiis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas. Of a school of theology as springing from Sailer, we cannot properly speak. He did not leave a school, but only a spiritual impulse. He was of decidedly irenical tendency. Full of Christian love, his ideal was a mild orthodoxy, equally opposed to rationalism, on the one hand, and to a stiff, arid, Roman orthodoxy, on the other. Among the most eminent followers of Sailer was Melchior Diepenbrock (1798-1851), his companion at Ratisbon, and subsequently princebishop of Breslau and cardinal-priest. See Hagenbach, Church in the 18th and 19th Centuries; but especially Herzog, Real-Encykl. 13, 305-313. (J.P.L.)