Angelus Silesius: Difference between revisions

Angelus Silesius
Born	Johann Scheffler Baptised 25 December 1624 Breslau, Silesia (now Wrocław, Poland)
Died	9 July 1677 (age 52) Breslau, Silesia (now Wrocław, Poland)
Nationality	Silesian (German, Polish)
Other names	Silas
Occupation(s)	Physician, priest, mystic and religious poet
Notable work	Heilige Seelenlust (1657) Der Cherubinischer Wandersmann (1657) Ecclesiologia (1677)

Angelus Silesius or Johann Angelus Silesius (born: Johann Scheffler; bapt. 25 December 1624 – 9 July 1677) was a German Catholic priest and physician, known for being a mystic and religious poet. Born and raised as a Lutheran, he adopted the name Angelus (Latin for "messenger") and the surname Silesius (from the Latin for "Silesian") upon converting to Catholicism in 1653. While studying in the Netherlands, he began to read the works of Medieval mystics and became acquiainted with the works of German mystic Jacob Böhme through Böhme's friend, Abraham von Franckenberg. Silesius's mystical beliefs grew and caused greater tension between him and Lutheran authorities, leading to his conversion to Catholicism. He would take holy orders under the Franciscans and was ordained a priest in 1661. Ten years later, in 1671, he would retire to a Jesuit monastery where he remained for the rest of his life.

An enthusiastic convert and priest, Silesius worked diligently in efforts to convince German Protestants in Silesia to return to the Roman Catholic church after the Reformation. To this end, he composed fifty-five tracts and pamphlets condemning Protestantism, several of which were published in two folio volumes entitled Eccleciologia (trans. "The Words of the Church"). However, history remembers him chiefly for his religious poetry and in particular for two poetical works both published in 1657: Heilige Seelenlust (literally, "The Soul's Holy Desires"), a collection of more than 200 religious hymn texts that are used as lyrics for well known Catholic and Protestant hymns; and for Der Cherubinische Wandersmann ("The Cherubinic Pilgrim"), a collection of over 1,600 alexandrine couplets. His poetry is noted for exploring themes of mysticism, quietism, and pantheism within the Christian context.

Life

Early life and education

Silesius was born in December 1624 in Breslau, the capital of Silesia. His exact birthdate is unknown but it is thought to be in December 1624 as the earliest mention of him is the registration of his baptism on Christmas Day 1624. At the time, Silesia was a German-speaking province of the Habsburg Empire. Today, it is the southwestern region of Poland. He was born Johann Scheffler and was the first of three children. His parents, who married in February 1624, were Lutheran. His father, Stanislaus Scheffler (c.1562-1637), was of Polish ancestry and was a member of the lower nobility. Stanislaus dedicated his life to the military was made Lord of Borowice (or Vorwicze) and received a knighthood from King Sigismund III. A few years before his son's birth, he had retired from military service in Krakow. In 1624, he was 62. His mother, Maria Hennemann (c. 1600-1639), was a 24-year old daughter of a local physician with ties to the Imperial court.

Scheffler obtained his early education at the Elisabethsgymnasium (Saint Elizabeth's Gymnasium, or high school) in Breslau. His earliest poems were written and published during these formative years. Scheffler was likely influenced by the recently published works of poet and scholar Martin Opitz and by one of his teachers, Christoph Köler.

He subsequently studied medicine and science at the University of Strasbourg (or Strassburg) in Alsace for a year in 1643. It was a Lutheran university with a course of study that embraced Renaissance humanism. From 1644 to 1647, he attended Leiden University in the Netherlands. At this time, he was introduced to the writings of Jacob Böhme (1575-1624) and became acquainted with one of Böhme's friends, Abraham von Franckenberg (1593-1652), who likely introduced him ancient Kabbalist writings, alchemy, hermeticism, and to mystic writers living in Amsterdam. Franckenberg had been compling a complete edition of Böhme's work at the time Scheffler resided in the Netherlands. Scheffler then went to Italy and enrolled in studies at the University of Padua in Padua in September 1647. A year later, he received a doctoral degree in philosophy and medicine and returned to his homeland.

Physician

On 3 November 1649, Scheffler was appointed to be the court physician to Silvius I Nimrod, Duke of Württemberg-Oels (1622-1664) and was given an annual salary of 175 thalers. Although he was “recommended to the Duke on account of his good qualities and his experience in medicine,” it is likely that Scheffler's friend and mentor, Abraham von Franckenberg, had arranged the appointment given his closeness to the Duke. Franckenberg was the son of a minor noble from Ludwigsdorf bei Oels within the duchy. Franckenberg returned to the region the year before. It is also possible that Scheffler's brother-in-law, Tobias Brückner, who was also a physician to the Duke of Württemberg-Oels may have recommended him. Scheffler soon was not happy in his position as his personal mysticism and critical views on Lutheran doctrine (especially his disagreements with the Augsburg Confession)caused friction with the Duke and members of the ducal court. The Duke was characterized in history as being "a zealous Lutheran and very bigoted." Coincidently, it was at this time that Scheffler began to have mystical visions which along with his public pronouncements led local Lutheran clergy to consider Scheffler a heretic. After Franckenberg's death in June 1652, Scheffler resigned his position—or may have been forced to resign—and sought refuge under the protection of the Roman Catholic church.

Priest and poet

Protestant authorities attacked and denounced Silesius in print for his Catholic and mystical beliefs, as with this caricature from the Wolhverdientes Kapitel (1664) depicting him as a peddlar of potions, rosaries, gambling cards and dice, spectacles, and other immoral wares.

The Lutheran authorities in the German states were not tolerant of Scheffler's increasing mysticism and he was publically attacked and denounces as a heretic. At this time, the imperial Habsburg rulers (who were Catholic) were pushing for a Counter Reformation and advocated for a re-Catholicisation of Europe. Scheffler sought to convert to Catholicism and was received by the Church of Saint Matthias in Breslau on 12 June 1653. Upon being received, he took the name Angelus, the Latin for "messenger" and origin for Angel, and adopted the surname Silesius (from the Latin for "Silesian"). It is unknown why he took this name, however, he may have added Silesius to honor a favourite scholastic, mystic or theosophic author or to distinguish himself from other famous writers of his era: likely either Spanish] poet John Ab Angelis (author of The Triumph of Love) or Lutheran theologian Johann Angelus in Darmstadt. He no longer used the name Scheffler, but did on occasion use his first name, Johann. From 1653 until his death, he used the forms of Angelus Silesius and Johann Angelus Silesius.

Shortly after his conversion, on 24 March 1654, he received an appointment as Imperial Court Physician to Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand III, the Holy Roman Emperor. However, this was likely an honorary position to offer some official protection against Lutheran attackers as he never went to Vienna to serve the Imperial Court. It is very likely that he never practiced medicine after his conversion to Catholicism.

In the late 1650s, he sought permission (a nihil obstat or imprimatur) from Catholic authorities in Vienna and Breslau to begin publishing his poetry. He began writing poetry at an early age, publishing a few occasional pieces when a schoolboy in 1641 and 1642. He attempted to publish poetry while working for the Duke of Württemburg-Oels, but was refused by the Duke's orthodox Lutheran court clergyman, Christoph Freitag. However, in 1657, after obtaining the approval of the Catholic church, two collections of poems were published--the works for which he is known—Heilige Seelenlust ("The Soul's Holy Desire") and Der Cherubinische Wandersmann ("The Cherubinic Pilgrim").

On 27 February 1661, Silesius entered the Franciscan Order and took holy orders. Three months later, he was ordained a priest in the Silesian Principality of Neisse—the location of successful re-Catholicisation and one of two ecclesiastical states within the region (i.e. ruled by a Prince-Bishop). When his friend Sebastian von Rostock (1607-1671) became Prince-Bishop of Breslau, Silesius was appointed his Rath und Hofmarschall (a counselor and coadjutor). During this time, he began publishing over fifty tracts attacking Lutheranism and the Protestant Reformation. Thirty-nine of these essays he later compiled for a two-volume folio collection entitled Eccleciologia (1676).

Death

After the death of the Prince-Bishop of Breslau in 1671, Silesius retired to the Hospice of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star (the Matthiasstift), a Jesuit monastery associated with the church of Saint Matthias at Breslau. He died on 9 July 1677 and was buried at the monastery. Some sources claim he died from tuberculosis (or "consumption"), others describe it as a "wasting sickness." Immediately after news of his death spread, several of his Protestant detractors spread the untrue rumor that Silesius had hanged himself. His fortune, largely inherited from his father's noble estate, he distributed to pious and charitable institutions including orphanages.

Importance

Silesius in modern culture

Monument in Wrocław

In series of lectures entitled Seite Noches (trans. "Seven Nights") (1980), Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) remarks that the essence of poetry can be encapsulated in a single quote from Silesius in that beauty must be felt. Borges wrote:

I will end with a great line by the poet who, in the seventeenth century, took the strangely real and poetic name of Angelus Silesius. It is the summary of all I have said tonight — except that I have said it by means of reasoning and simulated reasoning. I will say it first in Spanish and then in German:

La rosa sin porqué florece porque florece.

Die Rose ist ohne warum; sie blühet weil sie blühet.

The line he quoted, Die Rose ist ohne warum; sie blühet, weil sie blühet... from Silesius's The Cherubinic Pilgrim (1657), is translated as: "The Rose is without 'why'—she blooms because she blooms." The influence of mysticism is seen in Borges' work, especially in his poetry which frequently references Silesius and his work.

This is a quote that was often referenced in the work of Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) who (building on the work of Leibniz and Hegel) explored mysticism in many of his works in which he defines a theory of truth as phenomenal and defying any rational explanation. Heidegger was commenting on the rational philosophy of German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)—a contemporary of Silesius—who referred to the mystic's poetry as "beautiful" but "extraordinarily daring, full of difficult metaphors and inclined almost to godlessness" despite that Silesius's mysticism was contrary to Liebniz's rational principle (principium redendae rationis sufficientis) that "nothing is without a why.".

In the 1991 American film Cape Fear directed by Martin Scorsese, psychopath Max Cady (played by Robert De Niro) quotes a verse of Silesius. The quote is:

Original German text: Ich bin wie Gott, und Gott wie ich. Ich bin so groß wie Gott, er ist so klein wie ich. Er kann nicht über mir, und ich nicht unter ihm stehen.

English translation: I am like God and God like me. I am as Large as God, He is as small as I. He cannot above me, nor I beneath him be.

However, the context of this line in the film does not match the context intended by Silesius. The character of Cady uses it to emphasize dramatically to other characters (his intended victims) the power of his individual will and his god-like ability to exact a violent vengeance. The context intended by Silesius was of man's realization through his spiritual potential for perfection that he was of the same substance with God in the sense of the mystical divine union or theosis—that experience of direct communion between the believer and God.

Works

The title page of the 1674 edition Der Cherbinische Wandersmann

• 1657: Heilige Seelenlust, oder geistliche Hirtenlieder der in ihren Jesum verliebten Psyche (trans. "The Soul's Holy Desires, or the Spiritual Songs of the Shepherd in your Christ-loving Spirit")
• 1657: Geistreiche Sinn-und-Schlussreime zur göttlichen Beschaulichkeit (trans. "Ingenious Aphorisms in End-Rhymes to Divine Tranquility", or "Witty Aphorisms in End-Rhymes to Divine Tranquility") renamed in the 2nd edition (1674) to Der Cherbinische Wandersmann (trans. "The Cherubinic Pilgrim")
• 1675: Sinnliche Beschreibung der vier letzten Dinge, zu heilsamen Schröken und Auffmunterung aller Menschen inn Druck gegeben. Mit der himmlischen Procession vermehrt, &c. (trans. "A Sensuous Representation of the Four Last Things...")
• 1677: Eccleciologia (trans. "The Words of the Church")

See also

• Catholic spirituality
• Christian mysticism
• German mysticism
• Physician writer
• Quietism (Christian philosophy) or Hesychasm

External links

• Two Silesius' texts in English translation