Angelus Silesius
Encyclopedia
Angelus Silesius was a German
Catholic mystic
and poet
.
as son of Polish noble and German mother http://books.google.pl/books?id=1SpZAAAAMAAJ&q=angelus+silesius+polish+noble&dq=angelus+silesius+polish+noble&lr=&pgis=1. His given name was Johann Scheffler, but he is generally known by the pseudonym
Angelus Silesius (meaning Silesian messenger), under which he published his poems and which marks the country of his birth, Silesia. His father moved from Kraków
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 Silvius Nimrod
, 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, and finding his mysticism unwelcomed in the Lutheran establishment, Silesius converted to the Catholic Church in 1653. Two years later Silesius received from Emperor Ferdinand III
the status of imperial-royal (kaiserlich-königlich) court physician. 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. He was known to use his unexplained considerable inheritance for the welfare of orphans. He is said to have been known by the nickname "Silas" in his day and to have contributed to a considerable body of Lutheran and Catholic hymns.
s, 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 rhyme
d distichs embodying a strange mystical panentheism
drawn mainly from the writings of Jakob Böhme
and his followers. Silesius also delighted specially in the subtle paradox
es 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.
The Catholic Encyclopedia
defends Silesius from the charge of panentheism. 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.
Silesius also wrote prose
, notably a series of tract
s against Protestantism
, published under the title Ecclesiologia.
["The Rose is without 'why'; she blooms, because she blooms..."] This was held by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges
to be a summary of Poetry
.
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.
Seven Nights by Jorge Luis Borges. Originally published in Spanish as Siete Noches.
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."
[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.]
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Catholic mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
.
Life
Silesius was born in Breslau (Wrocław), SilesiaSilesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
as son of Polish noble and German mother http://books.google.pl/books?id=1SpZAAAAMAAJ&q=angelus+silesius+polish+noble&dq=angelus+silesius+polish+noble&lr=&pgis=1. His given name was Johann Scheffler, but he is generally known by the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Angelus Silesius (meaning Silesian messenger), under which he published his poems and which marks the country of his birth, Silesia. His father moved from Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
in 1618 and became a citizen of Breslau. Johann was brought up a Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
and educated as scientist and physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. He was at first physician to Silvius Nimrod
Silvius I Nimrod, Duke of Württemberg-Oels
Silvius I Nimrod, Duke of Württemberg-Oels was the first Duke of Oels-Wuerttemberg.- Life :...
, Duke of Württemberg-Oels, where he came into contact with Abraham von Franckenberg
Abraham von Franckenberg
Abraham von Franckenberg was a German mystic, author, poet and hymn-writer.- Life :Abraham von Franckenberg was born in 1593 into an old Silesian noble family in Ludwigsdorf bei Oels...
, who was later to influence him greatly and whose library he would inherit on Franckenberg's death in 1652. With the imperial Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
rulers pushing for re-Catholicisation, and finding his mysticism unwelcomed in the Lutheran establishment, Silesius converted to the Catholic Church in 1653. Two years later Silesius received from Emperor Ferdinand III
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand III was Holy Roman Emperor from 15 February 1637 until his death, as well as King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria.-Life:...
the status of imperial-royal (kaiserlich-königlich) court physician. In 1661 he took orders as a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
, and became coadjutor to the Prince-bishop of Breslau. He died at St. Matthias monastery in Breslau. He was known to use his unexplained considerable inheritance for the welfare of orphans. He is said to have been known by the nickname "Silas" in his day and to have contributed to a considerable body of Lutheran and Catholic hymns.
Works
In 1657 Silesius published under the title Heilige Seelenlust, oder geistliche Hirtenlieder der in ihren Jesum verliebten Psyche (1657), a collection of 205 hymnHymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
s, 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 rhyme
Rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...
d distichs embodying a strange mystical panentheism
Panentheism
Panentheism is a belief system which posits that God exists, interpenetrates every part of nature and timelessly extends beyond it...
drawn mainly from the writings of Jakob Böhme
Jakob Böhme
Jakob Böhme was a German Christian mystic and theologian. He is considered an original thinker within the Lutheran tradition...
and his followers. Silesius also delighted specially in the subtle paradox
Paradox
Similar to Circular reasoning, A paradox is a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition...
es of mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
. The essence of God, for instance, he held to be love; God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, 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
Infinity
Infinity is a concept in many fields, most predominantly mathematics and physics, that refers to a quantity without bound or end. People have developed various ideas throughout history about the nature of infinity...
in a finite form; in other words, by becoming man. God and man are therefore essentially
Essence
In philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the object or substance has contingently, without...
one.
The Catholic Encyclopedia
Catholic Encyclopedia
The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...
defends Silesius from the charge of panentheism. His prose writings are orthodox; "The Cherubic Pilgrim" was published with the ecclesiastical Imprimatur
Imprimatur
An imprimatur is, in the proper sense, a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement.-Catholic Church:...
, and, in his preface, the author himself explains his "paradoxes" in an orthodox sense, and repudiates any future pantheistic interpretation.
Silesius also wrote prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
, notably a series of tract
Tract (literature)
A tract is a literary work, and in current usage, usually religious in nature. The notion of what constitutes a tract has changed over time. By the early part of the 21st century, these meant small pamphlets used for religious and political purposes, though far more often the former. They are...
s against Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
, published under the title Ecclesiologia.
Quotations
"Die Rose ist ohne warum; sie blühet, weil sie blühet..."["The Rose is without 'why'; she blooms, because she blooms..."] This was held by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
to be a summary of Poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
.
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.
Seven Nights by Jorge Luis Borges. Originally published in Spanish as Siete Noches.
In the Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
remake of the movie Cape Fear
Cape Fear (1991 film)
Cape Fear is a 1991 thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and a remake of the 1962 film of the same name. It stars Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis and features cameos from Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam, who all appeared in the 1962 original film...
, Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
's character Max Cady
Max Cady
Max Cady is a fictional character in the John D. MacDonald novel The Executioners. The character was portrayed by Robert Mitchum in the 1962 film adaptation Cape Fear and by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake of the same name....
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."
[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.]