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Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg (March 16, 1445 – March 10, 1510), was a Swiss-born priest, considered one of the greatest of the popular preachers of the 15th century. ==Biography== He was closely connected with the humanists of Strasbourg, whose leader was the well-known Jacob of Wimpheling (1450–1528), called "the educator of Germany". Like Wimpheling, Geiler was a secular priest; both fought the ecclesiastical abuses of the age, but not in the spirit of Martin Luther and his adherents. They looked, instead, for salvation and preservation only in the restoration of Christian morals in Church and State through the faithful maintenance of the doctrines of the Church. He was born at Schaffhausen, but from 1448 passed his childhood and youth at Kaysersberg in Upper Alsace. His grandfather, who brought him up, lived there. The father was killed by a hunting-accident when Geiler was three years old; and his grandfather took charge of the education of the child, sending him to the school at Ammerschwihr, near Kaysersberg, where his mother lived. In 1460, when he was fifteen years old, Johann entered the University of Freiburg; which had just opened. Two years later he received the baccalaureate, and after two more years was made Master of Arts. He now gave lectures on various writings of Aristotle in the next semester. After graduation, he lectured there for some time on the ''Sententiae'' of Peter Lombard, the commentaries of Alexander of Hales, and several of the works of Aristotle. He filled the office of dean of the philosophical faculty for a brief period A living interest in theological subjects, awakened by the study of John Gerson, led him in 1471 to the University of Basel in May, 1471, also founded a short time before. He obtained the doctorate in 1475. At Basle he became acquainted with Sebastian Brant, with whom he formed a lasting friendship. While at Basle, Geiler preached his first sermons in the cathedral The magistracy and citizens of that city obtained his appointment to the Freiburg University, of which he was elected rector the next year. For a time he preached in the cathedral of Würzburg. Peter Schott, senator of Strasbourg, an important and influential citizen who had charge of the property of the cathedral, urged strongly upon Geiler to settle in Strasbourg. Ultimately Johann accepted in 1478 a call there, where he continued to work with few interruptions until within a short time of his death.〔Before this date the mendicant orders had supplied the pulpit of the cathedral of Strasbourg. On account, however, of the frequent change of preachers and, above all, owing to some friction between the mendicants and the parish priests, the cathedral chapter the bishop and the city authorities desired a secular priest appointed to fill the office permanently. Consequently a special position as preacher was made for Geiler.〕 The beautiful pulpit erected for him in 1481 in the nave of the cathedral, when the chapel of Saint Lawrence had proved too small, still bears witness to the popularity he enjoyed as a preacher in the immediate sphere of his labors, and the testimonies of Sebastian Brant, Beatus Rhenanus, Johann Reuchlin, Philipp Melanchthon and others show how great had been the influence of his personal character. He not only preached, as required, every Sunday and feast day in the cathedral, and even daily during fasts, but also, on special occasions, in the monasteries of the city and often outside of the city. His sermons, bold, incisive, denunciatory, abounding in quaint illustrations and based on texts by no means confined to the Bible, taken down as he spoke them, and circulated (sometimes without his knowledge or consent), by his friends, told perceptibly on the German thought as well as on the German speech of his time. It is an indicator of Strasbourg's thriving printing industry that most of Geiler's sermons were printed and widely distributed. He frequently visited Friedrich von Hohenzollern, Bishop of Augsburg, who was very friendly to him; once he was called to Füssen on the River Lech by his patron the Emperor Maximilian, who desired his advice. He made pious pilgrimages. At Einsiedeln in Switzerland he met the Blessed Nikolaus of Flüe, who was even then well known; another time he journeyed to Sainte-Baume, near Marseilles, in order to pray in the grotto of St. Mary Magdalen. A kidney trouble developed, to relieve which he was obliged to visit annual the hot springs of Baden; dropsy finally appeared, and he died on Lætare Sunday 1510 in Strasbourg. The next day, in the presence of an immense multitude of people, he was buried at the foot of the pulpit which had been especially built for him. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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