ABEL, HEINRICH. - Jesuit, nephew of the celebrated minister of state K. Abel, born at Passau on 15 Dec. 1843, died at Vienna on 23 Nov. 1926. Having entered the Order in 1863 and completed his studies, he first taught literature and history for several years at the college of Kalksburg, then went to Vienna, devoting himself to ministry among men. There he founded the first Marian Congregation (1890), that of the merchants, followed during his lifetime by another 330, composed of persons of every rank and condition, with 5 periodicals; he promoted men’s pilgrimages to the sanctuary of Mariazell and men’s courses of spiritual exercises. But the work that caused him to be proclaimed the apostle of Vienna was his series of apologetic and social sermons addressed to men. He had already preached there while professor at Kalksburg; but now, in the church of S. Agostino, he began a vigorous and sustained preaching, popular and attractive in form, wholly permeated by the concepts of Rerum novarum, which brought about a splendid Catholic revival in the capital. In social action he supported the mass movement led by Dr. Lueger. More than 10,000 men, including 300 priests, took part in his funeral, together with the cardinal of Vienna.
Among other works, he wrote: Zurück zum praktischen Christentum, (4ª ed., Vienna 1900); Der Katholische Mann, (Vienna 1923); and, in response to the accusations of those offended by the truths proclaimed from the pulpit, the pamphlet: Wie ich Jesuit wurde, (Vienna 1926).