Wilhelm Wilmers

Professor of philosophy and theology, b. at Boke in Westphalia, 30 January, 1817; d. at Roermond, Holland, 9 May, 1899. He entered the Society of Jesus at Brieg in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, 1834, was expelled from the country with the other Jesuits in 1847, and ordained priest at Ay in Southern France, 1848. Shortly after, he taught philosophy at Issenheim in Alsace, then exegesis at Louvain, theology at Cologne, philosophy at Bonn and Aachen and theology at Maria-Laach. In 1860 Cardinal Geissel requested Wilmer's services as theologian at the provincial council of Cologne. Wilmers also attended the Vatican Council in 1870 as theologian of Bishop Meurin, Vicar Apostolic of Bombay. After a brief residence at Bonn and Munster he went to Ordrupshoj, near Copenhagen, where he wrote a refutation of the attacks of the Protestant preacher Martensen on the Catholic Church. It was translated into Danish by the prefect Apostolic Hermann Grüder, and published under the latter's name with the title: "Det protestaniske og katholiske Trosprincip" (Copenhagen, 1875). In 1876 Wilmers was called by Cardinal Archbishop Pie to the theological faculty of Poitiers. In 1880 he lectured on theology to the French Jesuits at St. Helier; afterwards he taught theology on the Island of Jersey. Thenceforward he devoted himself entirely to writing, living first at Ditton-Hall, England, and then at Exaeten in Holland. Besides the above treatise Wilmers wrote: "Lehrbuch der Religion" (1855-57); "Geschichte der Religion" (1856), translated into several languages; "Lehrbuch der Religion fur höhere Lehranstalted" (1869); "Handbuch der Religion" (1871). These treatises were frequently republished. His last works were "De religione revelata" and "De Christi ecclesia" (1897); he nearly finished the third volume of the series "De fide divine", which was published in 1902.