Joseph Annegarn

Catholic theologian and popular writer, b. 13 October, 1794, at Ostbevern in Westphalia ; d. 8 July, 1843, at the Lyceum Hosianum, Braunsberg, East Prussia, where he was professor of church history. He rendered great service to Catholic literature and to the cause of the Church in Germany by his "Universal History," written primarily for Catholic youth, and published in eight volumes in 1827-29. His purpose was frankly Catholic ; the style is often brilliant, always pleasing, and well suited to youthful readers and to the general public. The selection from the mass of materials and the arrangement are judicious. Excellent features of the History are the numerous character sketches of great historical personages and the chronological tables. Succeeding editors have kept it abreast with the advance of historical research, and it remains a standard work in Catholic families in Germany, where it has taken the place of anti-Catholic popular histories. Annegarn was also the author of "Handbuch der Patrologie" (1839). (See Buchberger Kirchliches Handlexicon, s.v.).