James Bidermann

A poet and theologian of great learning and sanctity, b. at Ebingen, Germany, in 1578; d. at Rome, 20 August, 1639. He entered the Society of Jesus at Lansberg in 1594, and after the usual preliminary training he taught rhetoric at Munich from 1606 to 1615, and later spent eight years teaching philosophy and theology at Dillingen. In 1624, he was called to Rome where he fulfilled the duties of theologian and censor of books until his death. From an early age Bidermann distinguished himself in many branches of learning. Such was his reputation for scholarship that the famous Matthew Rader, a professor of Dillingen, celebrated his fame in a Latin poem, in which he spoke of him as another Aquinas, Aristotle, Cicero, and Maro. Besides numerous volumes of dramas, epigrams, biographical sketches, etc. Bidermann wrote many books on philosophy and theology. Amongst the best-known are:

• Theses Theologicae (1620);

• Sponsalia (1621);

• Poenitentiae Sacramentum (1621);

• Matrimonia Impedimenta (1621);

• Censurae (1622);

• Irregularitas (1622);

• Suffragia (1623);

• Jesu Christi Status Triplex, Mortalis, Immortalis, Sacramentalis (1623);

• Conscientia (1624);

• Proluciones Theologicae quibus Pontificis Rom. dignitatis adversus haeresim propugnata est (1624);

• Eleemosyna (1625);

• Gratia (1625);

• Agnosticon libri tres pro miraculis (1626)

Sommervogel, Bibliotheque de la c. de J., I, 1443; Bernard in Dict. de la theol. cath. XII, 813; Hurter, Nomenclator, I, 303.

R. H. Tierney.