BIEDERLACK, JOSEPH. - Jesuit, b. at Greven (Westphalia) on 27 March 1845, d. at Innsbruck on 15 Nov. 1930. Professor in the theological faculty of Innsbruck and at the Gregorian University in Rome, he made the social question the preferred subject of his studies.
His courses in sociology, begun in 1893 and then continued throughout his life and kept in close contact with the needs of the times, gave rise to the work: Die soziale Frage (Innsbruck 1895, enlarged through the 10th ed., ibid. 1925; Italian trans. by M. Vivari, 3rd ed., Rome 1907), which stimulated the study of the various topics, especially among Catholics and the clergy. In it, besides competently treating the different aspects of the question, he vigorously upheld the idea of workers’ trade unions. Other works: De contractibus, De iustitia et iure (Innsbruck 1892); De iure regularium (ibid. 1893; brought into conformity in the 2nd ed. with the new CIC, ibid. 1919).