Augustin Calmet

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Engraving around 1720

Augustin Calmet (born February 26, 1672 in Ménil-la-Horgne near Commercy in the Duchy of Lorraine , † October 25, 1757 in Senones ) was a Roman Catholic theologian , scholar and abbot of the Benedictine order .

Life

Statue of Don Augustin Calmet

Calmet was born in Ménil-la-Horgne near Commercy, the son of a farrier and baptized Antoine. The young Antoine Calmet retired to the nearby Benedictine monastery of Breuil near Commercy at an early age. There, and also at the University of Pont-à-Mousson , a small town on the Moselle between Nancy and Metz , he studied. He soon aroused the benevolence of his monastic teachers through his excellent intellectual abilities, his industriousness and his winning disposition.

As early as 1688, at the age of 16, he became a full member of the Benedictine order , took the name Augustine after St. Augustine , the father of the church , and was ordained a priest some time later, in 1696 . In addition, he distinguished himself among his friars through his tireless scientific studies, so that in 1698 he held a teaching post for philosophy and theology in the Abbey of Moyenmoutier . This was followed in 1704 by the subject of biblical exegesis in the Abbey of Munster in Alsace , in which he also held the office of subprior.

His indefatigable diligence and irreproachable character made him prior of the monastery of Lay in 1715 , a short time later, in 1718 abbot of St. Leopold near Nancy and in 1728 abbot of the monastery of Senones . His congregation , to which no fewer than 50 monasteries belonged, elected him twice as their president. Pope Benedict XIII therefore wanted to appoint him titular bishop , but Calmet modestly refused this request. He was the abbot of his Senones monastery until his death.

Wilhelm Fink characterizes Calmet in the first edition of the Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche : “Just as pious and modest as learned and tirelessly active; extremely fruitful as a writer. Godefroy counts 35 independent, mostly multi-volume works, of which only 6 appeared after his death. ”In the third edition, Leonhard Hell names him the most important Catholic exegete of the 18th century alongside Richard Simon . He also kept up with numerous scholars, e. B. Voltaire , contact.

Works

Calmet's scientific and literary heritage is of great importance. His main work is undisputedly his biblical commentary, published in the years 1707-1716 in 23 bulky, large-format volumes in French under the title la Sainte Bible en latin et en françois, avec un commentaire littéral et critique , which was also very well received by the Protestant population ; it is the best and largest commentary on the scriptures ever published in France, and saw several editions during the 18th century. This work was never translated into German, but an excerpt was published in 1720, consisting of 135 essays under the title Dissertations qui peuvent servir de Prolegomenes de l'Ecriture sainte , which in 1738, 1744 and 1747 also included three German editions under the Title Biblical Investigations or Treatises of Various Pieces Contributing to the Understanding of Heil. Scripture served .

He also wrote a biblical lexicon under the title Dictionnaire historique et critique, chronologique, géographique et littéral de la Bible. It appeared in three volumes in the years 1722–1728, this work also saw several editions, and was published in Latin, English, Dutch, and in 1751–1754 in 4 volumes under the title Biblical Dictionary, Wherein, What About History , Criticism, Chronology, Geography, and part of the literal understanding of the Holy Scriptures is dealt with and translated into German.

Furthermore, a biblical story appeared in 1718. It covers the period from creation to the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70 and is entitled Histoire sainte de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testament et des Juifs ; this also experienced several editions. An English translation appeared in 1740, a German edition under the title Biblical History, or Description of the History of the Old and New Testaments. In which especially the history of the Jews, from the beginning of the world, up to the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and its subsequent complete dispersion, is dealt with in 1759.

Further noteworthy works are the Histoire universelle sacrée et profane, depuis le commencement du monde jusqu'à nos jours , published in French and in German in 1735 under the title General Church and World History from Creation to Our Times from 1776– In 1797 it appeared in 12 volumes, furthermore in 1728 the Bibliothèque Lorraine , which listed Lorraine scribes and their works, a Commentaire littéral historique et moral sur la règle de saint Benoît , a commentary on the monastic rule of the Benedictines, which was published in 1734.

From 1728 Calmet wrote a history of the Duchy of Lorraine under the title Histoire ecclésiastique et civile de Lorraine ... , a commissioned work by Duke Leopold (1679–1729), which was published under the title Histoire de Lourraine ... from 1745 to 1757 in 7 volumes in reappeared in a modified form, but remained incomplete due to his death. It represents a significant achievement based on extensive source work and is still of great historical value today. In 1745 he also published a history of Verdun Histoire ecclésiastique et civile de Verdun .

Today Augustin Calmet is best known for his book Dissertations sur les apparitions des ans, des démons et des esprits, first published in French in 1746 . Et sur les revenans et vampires. De Hongrie, de Boheme, de Moravie et de Silesie , in which Calmet elaborates on the incidents of apparitions , witchcraft , obsession and vampirism that took place in his time and more recently . The writing was translated into all major European languages ​​at the time, so in 1749 a German edition appeared for the first time under the title Scholars Negotiating the matter of apparitions of the spirits and those of vampires in Hungary, Moravia etc ... Calmet saw himself because of this writing exposed to criticism from Enlightenment philosophers and materialists because he explained the phenomena on a purely theological basis.

literature

Web links

Commons : Augustin Calmet  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Augustin Calmet  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ digitized version
  2. ↑ digitized version
  3. ↑ digitized version
personal data
SURNAME Calmet, Augustine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Calmet, Antoine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Theologian, Benedictine abbot
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1672
PLACE OF BIRTH Ménil-la-Horgne at Commercy
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 1757
Place of death Senones