AGOSTINO d'ALFELD (Aveldenis). — German Franciscan controversialist, born in Alfeld (Hannover) in the second half of the 15th century and died after the year 1532. He held the office of lector in Sacred Scripture (Leipzig 1520), guardian (Halle 1523), and provincial (1529).
He was among the very first to rise up against the nascent Protestantism. In 1520, at the behest of Adolphus, Bishop of Merseburg, he began publishing a series of pamphlets: *Super apostolica Sede* (Leipzig 1520); *Malagna optimum* (Leipzig 1520); *Confessio Aveldiana* (Leipzig 1530), etc., which enraged Luther to the point of frenzy and which reveal in A. a profound theologian, well-versed in Sacred Scripture.
Bibl.: L. Lemmens, *Pater Augustin von Alfeld, ein Franziskaner aus der ersten Jahren der Glaubensspaltung in Deutschland*, Freiburg 1889.