Heinrich Birnbaum

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Heinrich Birnbaum (also De Piro : Latinized form; * 1403 ; † February 19, 1473 ) was a German clergyman and Carthusian monk .

Little is known about the time before his entry into the Charterhouse of Cologne on March 14, 1435 at the age of 32.

In a report on his example in observing the rules and on his experience of theology and scriptures, he was highly praised by his friars, and as early as 1438, three years after joining the order, he became prior of the Mont-Saint-André monastery in Tournai ( Belgium ). Birnbaum was also interested in the desire to reform the religious rules. He managed to be a true reformer: because of his exemplary piety, the elimination of the abuses of the Church, which had found acceptance in the various monasteries over which he ruled as prior, and the restoration of the harsh monastic discipline introduced by the Founder St. Bruno .

After seven years in Mont-Saint-André Prior, he was in Weselim Rheinland until 1457 , in Rettel (until 1459), in Trier (until 1461) and until 1463 in Diest in Belgium and held services there. In 1463 he became prior in Liège , but his poor health forced him to give up this post and retire to the Charterhouse of Cologne, where he had spent the first days of his life as a monk. During the last ten years of his life, Birnbaum wrote various ascetic works and prepared for his imminent death. While he lived in this Charterhouse, some of the holiest and most studied men in Germany lived there, such as Hermann Appeldorn († 1472), Hermann Grefken († 1480), Heinrich von Dissen († 1484) and Werner Rolevinck († 1502). Birnbaum wrote some instructions and directions for the members of his order, many of which were not printed, including "Defensio pro Immaculato Conceptu BMV" and "Excepta ex malo granato cum nonnullis conjunctis" .

Birnbaum was often mistaken for his uncle of the same name, one of the most famous lawyers of the 15th century, who was provost of St. Kunibert near Cologne at times and who died in 1439.

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SURNAME Birnbaum, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES De Piro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German clergyman and Carthusian monk
DATE OF BIRTH 1403
DATE OF DEATH February 19, 1473