Angelus Silesius

Monument in Wrocław

Angelus Silesius (December 25?, 1624 – July 9, 1677), a German mystic-poet, was born in Breslau, Silesia. His family name was Johann Scheffler, but he is generally known by the pseudonym Angelus Silesius, under which he published his poems and which marks the country of his birth. His father moved from Krakow in 1618 and became a citizen of Breslau, Johann was brought up a Lutheran and educated as scientist and physician. He was at first physician to the duke of Württemberg-Oels, where he came into contact with Abraham von Franckenberg, who was later to influence him greatly and whose library he would inherit on Franckenberg's death in 1652. With the imperial Habsburg rulers pushing for re-Catholicisation, Silesius joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1652. In 1654 Silesius received from the emperor the imperial-kingly (kaiserlich-königlich) court physician status. In 1661 he took orders as a priest, and became coadjutor to the Prince-bishop of Breslau. He died at St. Matthias monastery in Breslau, on July 9, 1677. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 547 × 599 pixelsFull resolution‎ (795 × 871 pixels, file size: 477 KB, MIME type: image/png) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 547 × 599 pixelsFull resolution‎ (795 × 871 pixels, file size: 477 KB, MIME type: image/png) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (2,448 × 3,264 pixels, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (2,448 × 3,264 pixels, file size: 2. ... is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events January 24 - Alfonso Mendez, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa. ... is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1677 (MDCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... Motto: Miasto spotkaÅ„ (the meeting place) Coordinates: , Country Poland Voivodeship Lower Silesian Powiat city county Gmina WrocÅ‚aw Established 10th century City Rights 1262 Government  - Mayor RafaÅ‚ Dutkiewicz Area  - City 292. ... Silesia (English pronunciation [], Czech: ; German: ; Latin: ; Polish: ; Silesian: Åšlůnsk) is a historical region in central Europe, located along the upper and middle Oder River, upper Vistula River, and along the Sudetes, Carpathian (Silesian Beskids) mountain range. ... A pseudonym (Greek: , pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a persons legal name. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... For other uses, see Doctor. ... Abraham von Franckenberg Abraham von Franckenberg (24 June 1593 – 25 June 1652), was a German mystic, author, poet and hymn-writer. ... Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy; also used as the flag of the Austrian Empire until the Ausgleich of 1867. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... This article is about religious workers. ... The Archdiocese of WrocÅ‚aw (Polish: ; German: ; Italian: ; Latin: Archidioecesis Vratislaviensis) is a Latin Rite archdiocese of the Catholic Church named after its capital WrocÅ‚aw in Poland. ... is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1677 (MDCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ...

In 1657 Silesius published under the title Heilige Seelenlust, oder geistliche Hirtenlieder der in ihren Jesum verliebten Psyche (1657), a collection of 205 hymns, the most beautiful of which, such as, Liebe, die du mich zum Bilde deiner Gottheit hast gemacht and Mir nach, spricht Christus, unser Held, have been adopted in the German Protestant hymnal. More remarkable, however, is his Geistreiche Sinn-und Schluss-reime (1657), afterwards called Cherubinischer Wandersmann ("The Cherubic Pilgrim")(1674). This is a collection of "Reimsprüche" or rhymed distichs embodying a strange mystical pantheism drawn mainly from the writings of Jakob Böhme and his followers. Silesius also delighted specially in the subtle paradoxes of mysticism. The essence of God, for instance, he held to be love; God, he said, can love nothing inferior to himself; but he cannot be an object of love to himself without going out, so to speak, of himself, without manifesting his infinity in a finite form; in other words, by becoming man. God and man are therefore essentially one. A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a god or other religiously significant figure. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Pantheism (Greek: πάν ( pan ) = all and θεός ( theos ) = God) literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent abstract God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... Idealized portrait of Böhmes from Theosophia Revelata (1730) Jakob Böhme (1575–1624) was a Christian mystic born in eastern Germany, near Görlitz. ... Look up paradox in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...

The Catholic Encyclopedia defends Silesius from the charge of pantheism. His prose writings are orthodox; "The Cherubic Pilgrim" was published with the ecclesiastical Imprimatur, and, in his preface, the author himself explains his "paradoxes" in an orthodox sense, and repudiates any future pantheistic interpretation. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Silesius also wrote prose, notably a series of tracts against Protestantism, published under the title Eccleciologia. Protestantism encompasses the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated with the doctrines of the Reformation. ...

Quotation

"Die Rose ist ohne warum; Sie blühet, weil Sie blühet..."

["The Rose is without an explanation; She blooms, because She blooms..." This was held by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges to be a negation of Aesthetics.] Borges redirects here. ... The Parthenons facade showing an interpretation of golden rectangles in its proportions. ...

In the Martin Scorsese remake of the movie Cape Fear, Robert De Niro's character Max Cady quotes a verse of Silesius, notably "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." Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese (IPA: AmE: ; Ita: []) (born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, writer and producer and founder of the World Cinema Foundation. ... Cape Fear is a 1991 film, directed by Martin Scorsese. ... Robert Mario De Niro, Jr. ... Robert Mitchum as Max Cady in Cape Fear Robert DeNiro as Max Cady in the 1991 remake. ...

Bibliographical references

A complete edition of Scheffler's works (Sämtliche poetische Werke) was published by D. A. Rosenthal, 2 vols. (Regensburg, 1862). Both the Cherubinischer Wandersmann and Heilige Seelenlust have been republished by G. Ellinger (1895 and 1901); a selection from the former work by O. E. Hartleben (1896). For further notices of Silesius' life and work, see Hoffmann von Fallersleben in Weimarisches Jahrbuch I. (Hanover, 1854); A. Kahlert, Angelus Silesius (1853); C. Seltmann, Angelus Silesius und seine Mystik (1896), and a biography by H. Mahn (Dresden, 1896). Otto Erich Hartleben (born June 3, 1864 in Clausthal, Germany – died February 11, 1905 in Salò, Italy) was a German poet and dramatist, known for his translation of Pierrot Lunaire. ... August Heinrich Hoffmann, who used Hoffmann von Fallersleben as his pen name, was a German poet. ...

References

This article incorporates information from the public domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

• Catholic Encyclopedia article

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the eleventh edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...