SIARD ABBOT BORN BERCHTOLD 1738 1816 (1 resultados)

Hardcover. Condición: Very Good. First Edition; First Printing. (vi),226, (vi),242, (vi),176 pages; Contemporary calf over pattern-printed paper-covered boards, five raised bands on the calf spine, gilt-lettered labels in green and red, edges decoratively stained red, plain endpapers. The binding shows only minor rubbing and wear; there is a small and neatly written ownership inscription (the initials P.A.F. and the date "1822") at the foot of the front free endpaper; no other marks of any sort. Moderate to heavy foxing throughout. A rare and interesting work on Christian faith written by the recently displaced last abbot of the Kloster Schussenried -- the Premonstratensian monastery in Upper Swabia, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The author, Berchtold, was born in 1738 and was educated in the Premonstratensian monastery of Füszen Ottobeuer and then finished his studies at Constance. The Premonstratensians are a Roman Catholic religious order founded in Prémontré (near Laon, France) in 1120 by Saint Norbert. Members of the order are also known as Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit). Properly speaking, the Premonstratensians are not monks but Canons Regular, under the Rule of St. Augustine. Berchtold entered the Norbertine abbey of Schussenried, made his profession of faith in 1758 and was ordained in the priesthood on January 9, 1763. Through the years he became novice master, prefect of schools, and finally Prior before being elected abbot of Kloster Schussenried on December 3, 1791. His tenure came to a premature end in 1803. In that year the German Mediatisation awarded the abbey and its territory, in compensation for their losses to the west of the Rhine, to the Counts of Sternberg-Manderscheid, who then used the abbey as their castle. As it turned out, this forced secularization under the Final Recess of February 1803 [Reichsdeputationshauptschluss] was the last significant law enacted by the Holy Roman Empire before its dissolution in 1806. In that latter year, the former Kloster Schussenried's territory was "mediatised" to the Kingdom of Württemberg, (to whom the counts' heirs sold the buildings in 1835, including the magnificent Baroque Library). Berchtold, newly free of his administrative position and responsibilities, devoted the remainder of his life to writing on devotional subjects and the nature of Christian faith. He published under the name of "Siard," probably to honor the name of one of the first abbots of his (former) monastery. He died November 3, 1816. Berchtold states that the present work, in three parts, was inspired by Nicolas-Sylvestre Bergier [1718-90]. Father Bergier set out to "correct" certain articles of the Diderot Encyclopédie which he found theologically unacceptible, but found himself obliged to write entirely original articles which then formed the 'Dictionnaire de Theologie' as a part of the Encyclopédie. The particular work Berchtold used as his template was Bergier's 'Apologie de la Religion Chrétienne'- (written as a response to Baron d'Holbach's 'Christianisme Devoilé') -- published in Paris, 1769. Berchtold's title page asserts that he has updated Bergier's text --"für den gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt bearbeitet." While Bergier died just before the French Revolution, father Berchtold/Siard lived through a roughly equivalent upheaval for German Catholicism -- the dissolutions of 1803 & 1806. His Premonstratensians were among the religious orders with their own distinct Rite, maintained even after Pope Pius V suppressed such rites (officially, the Pope, now a Saint, suppressed Rites with a continuous tradition of less than two hundred years). This 1807 work by Berchtold/Siard is especially worth modern attention as the unusually solumn Premonstratensian Rite places a central emphasis on the Paschal Mystery -- unique among the Latin rites. Modern Catholic thinking seems to be moving toward the Premonstratensian position. Following the Second Vatican Council, the Paschal Mystery is seen as one of the central concepts of Christian faith relating to the history of salvation. This 1807 book is also of interest as all three parts (with their separate title pages) were printed by Dionys Kuen, [1773-1852]. Kuen's simple, but effective, device appears on each of the three title pages, just above the imprint. Kuen was characterised by Max Flad in a 1991 biography as "Buchdrucker, Verleger, Mundartdichter und Maler aus Buchau." At the end of this copy, after the errata leaf following the text of the third part, the binder has included an [8 pp.] catalogue of Kuen's 1807 imprints, available both bound and unbound, with specific prices. Under the printer's own name, an 1802 work appears which still attracts modern interest: "Dionys Kuen's neuerfundene Kopiermaschine für Mahler und Zeichner: durch welche man nach dem Originale drey Kopien in drey verhältnissen zu gleicher Zeit, oder auch jede einzeln verfertigen kann." Scholars of printing history will know Kuen as the author of an 1845 work on the methods of printing color reproductions of butterfly wings -- ["Die Kunst, die Farbenpracht von den Schmetterlingsflügeln etc. auf Papier abzudrucken"]. Historians of beer and brewing may prefer to know Kuen for his 1831 verse tribute to Brown Beer, written in Swabian peasant dialect -- ["Die Erfindung des Braunbiers. Ein Gedicht in oberschwäbischer Bauernsprache," Buchau 1831]. This rare 1807 catalogue from Kuen also has an entry for the first part of the present work, under the authorial name "Siand." The second part was mentioned as in the press ["Dessen 2ter Theil ist unter der Presse"]. All three parts are present in our complete copy, in which the third part is very specifically stated to be the final part. The literal-minded binder of this copy has presented Bergier as the author in one of the pair of labels. Various modern internet registries of images have two oil portraits of Berchtold/Siard in his characteristic white Premonstratensian habit. In each portrait, the author.