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Matthias Flacius Illyricus ( German Matthias Flach; Croatian Matija Vlacic/Vlachich) ( March 3, 1520 - March 11, 1575) was a Lutheran reformer.He was born at Albona (today Labin) in Istria. Losing his father in childhood, in his early years he was self-educated, and taught himself from the instructions of the humanist Baptista Egnatius in Venice. At the age of seventeen, he intended to join a monastic order, with a view to sacred learning. His intention was diverted by his uncle, Baldo Lupetino , provincial of the Franciscans and sympathetic to the Reformation cause, who convinced him to start a university career. He lectured starting in 1539, at Basel, Tübingen and WittenbergWittenberg officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg is a town in Germany, in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, at 12°59' east, 51°51' north. It has a population of about 50,000 inhabitants. Wittenberg is interesting chiefly on account of its close connection with Ma. In ( 1541Events The first official translation of the entire Bible in Swedish February 12 Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago de Chile. May 8 Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River naming it Rio de Espiritu Santo. May 23 Jacques Cartier departs Saint-Malo Fr) he was welcomed by Melanchthon. Well prepared from Tübingen, he came under the influence of Martin LutherFor other people named Martin Luther see: Martin Luther (disambiguation Martin Luther (originally Martin Luder ( November 10, 1483 February 18, 1546) was a German theologian of the Christian religion and an Augustinian monk whose teachings inspired the Pr and, in 1544Events April 11 Battle of Ceresole French forces under the Comte d'Enghien defeat Imperial forces under the Marques Del Vasto near Turin. May Emperor Charles V again invades eastern France June 19 August 18 Imperial siege of St. Dizier in eastern France J, Flacius was appointed professorA professor is a senior teacher and researcher, usually in a college or university. Overview Professors give lectures and seminars in their field of study, such as science or literature. They also do advanced research in their fields and are supposed to d of HebrewThe Modern Hebrew language is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. What makes it unique is that the original Bible, the Torah, by Orthodox Jews held to be recorded in the time of Moses 3,300 years ago, was written in Biblical Classical at Wittenberg.
He married in 1545Events December 13 Official opening of the Council of Trent (closed 1563) Births Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza Deaths October 18 John Taverner, composer 1545.. He finished his master’s degree on February 24, 1546, ranking first among the graduates. Soon he was prominent in the theological discussions of the time, opposing strenuously the Augsburg Interim , and the compromise of Melanchthon known as the Leipzig Interim . Melanchthon wrote of him with venom as a renegade (aluimus in sinu serpentem). Because Wittenberg became too stressful, Flacius moved to Magdeburg ( November 9, 1551), where his feud with Melanchthon was patched up. On May 7, 1557 he was appointed professor of New Testament theology at Jena but was soon involved in controversy with his colleague Strigel on the synergistic question (relating to the function of the will in conversion). Affirming the natural inability of man, he unwittingly fell into expressions consonant with the Manichaean view of sin, as not an accident of human nature, but involved in its substance, since the Fall. Resisting ecclesiastical censure, he left Jena (Feb. 1562) to found an academy at Regensburg.
That assignment was not successful, so in October 1566 he accepted a call from the Lutheran community at Antwerp. Thence he was driven (Feb. 1567) by the exigencies of war, and betook himself to Frankfort, where the authorities stood against him. He proceeded to Strassburg where he was well received by the superintendent Marbach , and he hoped he had found an asylum. Here again, his religious views were unique and controversial. The authorities ordered him to leave the city by May Day 1573. The prioress Catharina von Meerfeld of the convent of White Ladies secretly harboured him and his family in Frankfort where he fell ill and died on March 11th, 1575.
He had twelve children with his first wife, who died in 1564. He remarried the same year. His son Matthias was professor of philosophy and medicine at Rostock.
His life was indeed remarkable. His polemics we may pass over; he stands at the fountain-head of the scientific study of church history, and — if we except, a great exception, the work of Laurentius Valla — of hermeneutics also. No doubt his impelling motive was to prove popery to be built on bad history and bad exegesis. Whether that be so or not, the extirpation of bad history and bad exegesis is now felt to be of equal interest to all religionists. Hence the permanent and continuous value of the principles embodied in Flacius’ Catalogus testium veritatis (1556; revised edition by J. C. Dietericus , 1672) and his Clavis scripturae sacrae (1567), followed by his Glossa compendiaria in N. Testamentum (1570). His characteristic formula, historia est fundamentum doctrinae, is better understood now than in his own day.
