Melchior Miritz

Melchior Miritz (also: Myritzsch, Mirisch, Mirtisch, Myricius, Miris, von der Heyde; * Dresden , † around 1531 in Magdeburg ) was a German theologian and reformer.

Life

Miritz entered as a monk in the Augustinian monastery in Dresden and received on 19 September 1500 in Merseburg Cathedral , the ordination . As cursor s. theologiae in Dresden in 1505 he received permission to do a doctorate. In the summer semester of 1507 he matriculated at the University of Wittenberg , became a baccalaurus in theology on July 27, 1509 and prior of the Wittenberg Augustinian monastery. In Wittenberg he acquired the Bakkalaurus Sententari on November 8th, 1510, and on August 6th, 1512 he moved to the University of Cologne as a Bakkalaurus Formatus , in order to take over the leadership of the Augustinian Convention for some time. As Prior in Dresden he acquired on August 17, 1515 Wittenberg the licentiate in theology and a doctorate on 11 September of the same year Doctor of theology.

After he was accepted into the Senate of the Theological Faculty on September 14, 1515, he returned to Dresden as prior on February 8, 1518, where he can also be traced back to 1519. In 1520 it was decided in Eisleben to send Miritz to Ghent in order to strengthen the influence of the German Augustinian Congregation here. When the Augustinians there were persecuted by imperial orders in 1521 because of their inclination to the teachings of Luther , his life was also in danger, but he knew how to get out of it in a clever way without having to make a public revocation. He was therefore suspected of having made common cause with the imperial inquisitors. Luther was very angry about this behavior and wanted nothing to do with him for a long time. Only after his justification to him in 1523 did he regain confidence in him.

In 1522 or 1523 Miritz came to Magdeburg as prior, where he soon took an outstanding part in the introduction of the Reformation . His demeanor was calm and level-headed, in contrast to the radical elements that were not lacking in Magdeburg either. At the beginning of May 1524, the representatives of the six parishes met to discuss the principles according to which the introduction of the new teaching in Magdeburg should take place. The meeting called for this purpose on May 22nd in the Augustinian monastery was opened by Miritz with a speech. It was decided in future to take the Lord's Supper under both forms, to abolish masses for the soul, to abolish the monasteries, to collect their goods for the church treasury, to allow the clergy to marry, etc. These resolutions were approved by the council and the guild masters. Luther, who had been sent from Wittenberg to hear his advice, recommended his colleague, Professor Nikolaus von Amsdorf , to carry out the work of the Reformation . Catholic worship was abolished in the parish churches, and in July Miritz was elected the first pastor in the Johanniskirche. On July 17th he held a German mass here and distributed the Lord's Supper under both guises.

On August 9th, along with other clergymen, he had a number of theses printed, which they offered to defend as "against all papists" based on God's Word, but the Catholic opponents did not enter into a disputation. On February 6, 1525 Miritz married a daughter of the ropemaker Simon Meurer. When he had left his monastery, the prior gave the same, including all his goods and documents, to the Magdeburg City Council, which promised to convert the monastery into a hospital after the death of the remaining monks. Nothing seems to have been known about Miritz's later living conditions. Since his successor Lukas Rosenthal took up his post as a preacher at St. John's Church in 1531, it is assumed that Miritz died in 1531.

literature

• Karl Janicke:  Miritz, Melchior . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, p. 779 f.
• The Augustinian Hermitage in Wittenberg - members of the convent. In: The dioceses of the church province of Magdeburg. 3. Vol. Fritz Bünger , Gottfried Wentz: The Diocese of Brandenburg. Part 2. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1941, pp. 471–473.