(NACHTGALL)

An Alsatian Humanist, b. at Strasburg, 1487; d. at Freiburg, 1537. After receiving instruction at Strasburg from Jacob Wimppheling, he went in 1508 to Paris, where he studied Latin under Faustus Andrelini and Greek under Hieronymus Aleander. He then studied canon law at Louvain, Padua, and Vienna, and in the last city music also under Wolfgang Grefinger. Subsequently he travelled in Greece and Asia Minor , returning to Strasburg in 1514. Here he became associated with Wimppheling and Sebastian Brant and mingled in literary circles. In 1515 he was appointed organist at the church of St. Thomas, and also received a vicariate, as he was a priest. In addition he taught both in the school of the Knights Hospitallers and in the cathedral school. He spread in Strasburg his own enthusiasm for the Greek language and literature, and published Greek manuals, collections of examples, and an edition of Lucian with a translation. In 1515 he also published a book on the elements of music (Institutiones musicae), and in 1516 issued a revised edition of the "Rosella" of Baptista Trovamala's compendium of cases of conscience. The most important of his later works are: (1) an edition (1518) of the Commentary on the Pauline Epistles, then ascribed to Bishop Haimo of Halberstadt. In the introduction Luscinius condemns Scholasticism and champions the study of the Bible ; (2) an exposition and translation of the Psalms (1524); (3) a harmony of the Gospels in Latin and German (1523-25); (4) the dialogue "Grunnius sophista" (1522), a defence of Humanistic studies; (5) a collection of anecdotes called "Loci ac sales mire festivi" (1524), written chiefly for scholarly circles and intended rather to entertain than to be satirical. It contains extracts from Greek and Roman authors, quotations from the Bible and the Fathers of the Church, and moral applications which consort but ill with the many coarse jests.

Luscinius went to Italy and there received the degree of Doctor of Law. In 1520 he lost his position at St. Thomas's, and failed to obtain a prebend which he had expected, but he was soon made a canon of St. Stephen's at Strasburg. In 1523 he went to Augsburg, and there became a teacher of the Bible and of Greek at the monastery of St. Ulrich. Although a zealous Humanist and an opponent of Scholasticism, Luscinius did not become a supporter of the Reformation. For a time, however, he certainly seems to have been friendly to it, and to have approved of the doctrine of salvation by faith alone. But disputes, which he held to be specious quibbling over words, were distasteful to him, and thus at the beginning he avoided taking sides. After 1525, however, he was regarded as a reliable adherent of the ancient Church. The Fugger made him preacher at the church of St. Moriz, and he became the most important champion of Catholicism at Augsburg, his sermons arousing the ill-will of the Evangelical party. In 1528, after he had repeatedly called the Evangelical preachers heretics, he was arrested and confined to his own house. In 1529 he was made cathedral preacher at Freiburg im Breisgau. Towards the end of his life he wished to enter the Carthusian monastery near Freiburg, but he was prevented by death. Luscinius was a very talented and versatile man — theologian, jurist, musician, and a widely known scholar in "the three languages".

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online