ALBER, JÁNOS NEPONUK. - Hungarian Piarist, exegete, and ecclesiastical historian, born at Magyaróvár on 7 July 1753, died at Pest on 21 June 1830. He taught biblical sciences and languages and ecclesiastical history, first to his fellow Piarists and later at the theological academy in Pest.
Proficient in patristic literature and philological criticism, he published the extensive commentary *Interpretatio S. Scripturae per omnes Veteris et Novi Testamenti libros* (16 vols., Pest 1801–1804), which included a calm refutation of rationalist and Protestant theses and gained recognition even among non-Catholic circles. Less successful were his *Institutiones hermeneuticae Scripturae S.* (3 vols. on the New Testament, Pest 1818; 3 vols. on the Old Testament, Pest 1827) and *Institutiones linguae hebraicae* (Pest 1826). Pope Pius VII honored him with a brief of commendation.
Another fruit of his long teaching career was *Institutiones historiae ecclesiasticae* (2 vols., Pest 1793; 5 vols., Eger 1825), for which he also published an *Epitome* (Eger 1826), and *Dissertationes in selecta capita historiae ecclesiasticae* (2 vols., Vienna 1820). He defended the rights of the Church against his Josephinist colleague Adám Breganoczy, professor of canon law at Pest, who sought to refute his *Responsum datum Jo. Alber theologiae professor de nonnullis iuris ecclesiastici sententiis* (Pest 1824).