Theodor Fabricius

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theodor Fabricius , also Fabritius , actually Dietrich Smit (born February 2, 1501 in Anholt , † September 15, 1570 in Zerbst ) was a German Lutheran theologian and reformer .

Life

After his father, the worker Tilemann Smit (Latinized: Faber - Schmied-), had left his mother Johanna (née Wessel), Fabricus did not have a happy childhood. He tried to feed himself, his siblings and his mother by begging and doing handicrafts until they married. Then he completed an apprenticeship as a shoemaker, which he had to give up because of rheumatoid arthritis. It wasn't until he was 15 that he learned to read and write. At the age of 17 he therefore began to attend school in Emmerich and then in Münster in order to expand his knowledge. Five years later he enrolled at the University of Cologne . Since the scholastic teaching method there did not suit him, Fabricus moved to the University of Wittenberg in 1522 . Here he heard, among others, Martin Luther , Philipp Melanchthon , Johannes Bugenhagen and Justus Jonas the Elder . Carefully keeping his life, he continued his humanistic studies.

In 1527 he returned to Cologne and was initially able to teach the Hebrew language at the university . Because of his evangelical sentiments, he was ousted from the university. He first went to Jülich , got married there and gave German sermons. From there he campaigned for the Protestant martyrs Adolf Clarenbach (around 1497–1529) and Peter Fliesteden († 1529). For this he was imprisoned for seven weeks and in 1531 entered the service of Landgrave Philip of Hesse , where he was deployed in various missions. In 1533 he acted as a deacon in Kassel against the Anabaptists , worked in Münster and Kleve , was imprisoned in Hamm and represented the Hessian course in church politics . As a field preacher he accompanied his sovereign to Württemberg in 1535 until he accepted a pastor's post in Allendorf / Werra in 1536 .

Since he had condemned the double marriage of his employer since 1540, he was arrested and only released again in 1542. He returned to Wittenberg and taught Hebrew as a professor from 1543 . On Luther's recommendation, he was placed as superintendent in Zerbst in 1544 . After he had received his doctorate in theology on April 25, 1544 , he was ordained by Bugenhagen for his office. As a follower of Melanchthon, however, he had a difficult time in Zerbst and had to defend himself against attacks by the Gnesiolutherans after Luther's death . Nevertheless, it left a trace in the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst . The country took its own Filipino path, the foundations of which Fabricius had laid.

swell

  • Vita Theodori Fabricii , Theologiae Doctoris, & Superintendentis Anhaltini, from ipso a. 1565 ad filios suos conscripta, nunc primum edita. In: Theodor Hasaeus / Friedrich Adolph Lampe (eds.): Bibliotheca Historico-philologico-theologica. Volume IV / 1, Frankfurt am Main 1720, pp. 65-105.
  • Franz Münnich: Theodor Fabricius. Biography of the first Anhalt superintendent. With the addition of a German translation. In: Zerbster Jahrbuch 16 (1931/32), pp. 37-94 (Latin autobiography).

Selection of works

  • Institutiones grammaticae in linguam sanctam, Cologne 1528, 1531
  • Articuli pro evangelica doctrina, Cologne 1531
  • Tabulae duae, de nominibus Hebraeorum una, altera de verbis, Basel 1545

literature

personal data
SURNAME Fabricius, Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lutheran theologian and reformer
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1501
PLACE OF BIRTH Anholt
DATE OF DEATH September 15, 1570
Place of death Zerbst