BERINGER, FRANZ. - German Jesuit, canonist, b. at Magonza on 30 May 1838, d. at Rome on 23 Jan. 1909. Ordained priest in 1854, after completing his studies at Rome in the German College, he was for some years secretary to the bishop of Magonza, Emmanuele V. Ketteler.
Having entered the Society of Jesus (1879), he was called to Rome in 1883 to assist Fr F. Ehrle, the future cardinal, in the edition of Fr S. Mauro’s Commentarius in Aristotelem (4 vols., Parigi 1885-87) and Fr C. Alamanni’s Summa philosophica (2 vols., Parigi 1885-88). A very active consultor of the S. Congregation of Indulgences (1888), he published, in revised form, Fr J. Schneider’s collection: Rescripta authentica necnon summaria indulgentiarum (Ratisbona 1895); he completely recast the manual on indulgences by Maurel-Schneider, which from the 10th edition onward (1893) appeared under his name and became a classic: Die Ablässe, ihr Wesen und Gebrauch (the 15th ed. edited by Fr P. A. Steinen, Paderborn 1921). The work was declared authentic by the Congregation of Indulgences itself. B. also published De congregationibus mariani documents et leges (Graz 1909).