BUCHNER, ALOYS. — German theologian, b. at Murnau (Bavaria) on 20 April 1783, and d. at Passau on 29 August 1869. A Benedictine novice at the time of the persecution against the religious Orders, when his monastery was suppressed he was received at Landshut by Mgr Sailer; he was thus able to continue his studies, becoming a priest in 1806. From pastoral work he subsequently moved to Dillingen, Würzburg, and Munich, where he was professor of dogmatic theology (1818–38). From 1840 to 1857 he was rector of the lycée at Passau, where he died as a canon of the Cathedral.
The fruit of his studies and of his long teaching career were his publications: Summa theologiae dogmaticae, 4 vols. in 8°, Munich 1828–29; Encyclopédie u. Méthodologie der theol. Wissenschaft (Sulzbach 1837), in which he admirably combines breadth of learning with soundness of doctrine.