BUCHNER, ALOYS. - German theologian, born at Muranau (Bavaria) on 20 April 1783, died at Passau on 29 August 1869. A Benedictine novice during the persecution against religious orders, his monastery having been suppressed, he was received at Landshut by Monsignor Sailer; thus he was able to continue his studies and was ordained priest in 1806. From parochial ministry he moved successively to Dillingen, Würzburg, and Munich (1818–38), where he was professor of dogmatic theology. From 1840 to 1857 he served as rector of the lyceum in Passau, where he died as canon of the cathedral.
The fruit of his studies and long teaching career was his published work: Summa theologiae dogmaticae, 4 vols. in 8, Munich 1828–29; Encyclopädie u. Methodologie der theol. Wissenschaft (Sulzbach 1837), in which he combined vast erudition with solid doctrine.