Johann Nikolaus Weislinger

Polemical writer, born at Puttlingen in German Lorraine, 1691; died at Kappel-Rodeck in Baden, 29 August, 1755. After attending the Jesuit high-school at Strasburg, he became a private tutor in 1711. From 1713 he studied philosophy at the University of Heidelberg, then took up theology and prepared for ordination as priest under the direction of the Jesuits at Strasburg. Soon after ordination he was appointed parish priest at Waldulm (1726), and in 1730 at Kappel-Rodeck, but in 1750, on account of severe illness, he was obliged to resign his position. He was a prolific controversialist, widely read in the writings of his opponents. He had a keen mind and was quick at repartee in his polemical treatises. His language is often coarse and rough: he sought “in fine modes of speech from Luther’s rhetoric”, according to his own statement, to outdo the Protestant controversialists. The most celebrated of his writings is “Friss Vogel oder stirb!”, which he composed when a student of theology; it appeared at Strasburg, 1723, and was often reprinted. Other polemical writings are: “Huttenus delarvatus” (Constance and Augsburg, 1730); “Hochst billig und grundliche Antwort auf die unbillig und grundlose Klagen” (Augsburg, 1733); “Auserlesene Merkwurdigkeiten von alten und neuen theologischen Marktschreiern” (Strasburg, 738); “Schutz- Schrift des scharf angeklagten, doch aber ganz unschuldig befundenen Luthertums” (Strasburg, 1840-). He issued a new edition of Kaufmann’s “Katholisch ist gut sterben” (Strasburg, 1744).