Georg Scherer was a Roman Catholic pulpit

Pulpit

Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...

 orator and controversialist.

Born at Schwaz

Schwaz

Schwaz is a city in Tyrol, Austria. It is the administrative center of the Schwaz district . Schwaz is located in the lower Inn valley, and has a population of about 13,000....

, in Tyrol

Tyrol (state)

Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...

, Scherer entered the Society of Jesus

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 in 1559. Even before his ordination

Ordination

In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...

 he was famed for his preaching powers. For over forty years he labored in the Archduchy of Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

. To Scherer, in part, it owes the retention of the faith. In 1577 he was Court preacher to the Archduke Matthias

Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor

Matthias of Austria was Holy Roman Emperor from 1612, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1608 and King of Bohemia from 1611...

; he retained the post until 1600. In 1590 he was appointed Rector of the Jesuit College at Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

; the sternness of his character scarcely fitted him for the office, and he was transferred (1594) to Linz

Linz

Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...

. The story of his being struck blind in the pulpit, after having exclaimed: "If the Catholic Church is not the True Church, may I become blind," is a pure invention.

Scherer was a man of boundless energy and rugged strength of character, a strenuous controversialist, a genuinely popular orator and writer. He vigorously opposed the Tübingen

Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen is a public university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of Germany's oldest universities, internationally noted in medicine, natural sciences and the humanities. In the area of German Studies it has been ranked first among...

 professors who meditated a union with the Greek Schismatics, refuted Lutheran divines like Osiander

Andreas Osiander

Andreas Osiander was a German Lutheran theologian.- Career :Born at Gunzenhausen in Franconia, Osiander studied at the University of Ingolstadt before being ordained as a priest in 1520. In the same year he began work at an Augustinian convent in Nuremberg as a Hebrew tutor. In 1522, he was...

 and Heerbrand

Jacob Heerbrand

Jacob Heerbrand was a German Protestant theologian and controversialist.-Life:He was born at Giengen in Swabia on August 12, 1521. He was educated at the school at...

, and roused his countrymen against the Turks

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

. Believing like his contemporaries that the State had the right to put witches to death, he maintained, however, that since they were possessed, the principal weapons used against them should be spiritual ones, e.g.exorcism

Exorcism

Exorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...

s or prayer

Prayer

Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

. Scherer's severe attitude towards witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

 did not meet the approval of his general, Acquaviva

Acquaviva

-Places:Italy:*Acquaviva Collecroce, in the province of Campobasso*Acquaviva delle Fonti, in the province of Bari*Acquaviva d'Isernia, in the province of Isernia*Acquaviva Picena, in the province of Ascoli Piceno...

. His eloquence and zeal made many converts, amongst them the future Cardinal Khlesl

Melchior Klesl

Melchior Klesl was an Austrian statesman and cardinal of the Roman Catholic church during the time of the Counter-Reformation...

. His works were collected and published by the Premonstratensians of Bruck, Moravia

Moravia

Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...

 (1599–1600), and again issued at Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 (1613–1614).

Scherer died in Linz of apoplexy

Apoplexy

Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...

.