Friedrich Heinrich Hugo Windischmann

Orientalist and exegete, b. at Aschaffenburg, 13 December, 1811; d. at Munich, 23 August, 1861. He was a son of the philosopher Karl Joseph Windischmann ; studied philosophy, classical philology, and Sanskrit at Bonn, theology at Bonn and Munich, and Armenian with the Mechitaists at Venice. After receiving the doctorate in theology at Munich, 2 Jan., 1836, he was ordained priest on 13 March following; seven months later he became vicar of the cathedral and secretary of Archbishop Gebsattel of Munich. In 1838 he was professor-extraordinary of canon law and New-Testament exegesis at Freising, but resigned when appointed canon of the cathedral in 1839. In 1842 he was chosen a member of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences and in 1846 became Vicar-General of Munich. He accompanied Archbishop Reisach to the episcopal conference at Wurzburg in 1848, and was with him in Rome, when the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was defined in 1854. When Reisach was created cardinal and took up his residence in Rome, Windischmann became a simple canon on 27 August, 1856. His fearless defence of the papal and ecclesiastical rights against the frequent encroachments of the State often brought him in conflict with the civil authorities. He was a prudent director of souls and in much demand as a confessor. He was one of the greatest orientalists of his time, being especially versed in the Armenian and Old Persian languages, and in the various Sanskrit dialects. Among his works the following are noteworthy: "Sancara sive de theologumenis Vedanticorum" (Bonn, 1839); "Ueber den Somacultus der Arier" in "Abhandlungen der münchener Akademie" (1846); "Ursagen der arischen Völker" (ib., 1853); "Die persische Anahita oder Anaitis" (ib., 1856); "Mithra" in "Abhandlungen fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes" (1857); and a posthumous work "Zoroastrische Studien" (Munich, 1863). "Vindiciae petrinae" (Ratisborn, 1863), a defence of the Epistles of St. Peter and his coming to Rome, directed against Baur and his school ; and "Erklärung des Briefes an die Galater" (Mainz, 1843), an excellent explanation of St. Paul's letter to the Galatians.