Dereser, Johann Anton

DERESER, JOHANN ANTON. - Discalced Carmelite theologian and exegete (under the name Thaddeus of St. Adam), b. 3 February 1757 in Fahr am Main (Franconia), d. in Breslau on 16 June 1827. A priest in 1780, professor in the Catholic faculty of the University of Heidelberg, then, in 1783, of Greek language and exegesis of the New Testament at the University of Bonn, then, in 1791, regent of the major seminary and preacher in the cathedral of Strasbourg. Sentenced to death in 1794 for having refused to swear the oath on the civil constitution of the French clergy, after a few months of imprisonment he returned (1799) to teaching at the University of Heidelberg. From 1802 parish priest in Karlsruhe, and in 1815 professor of dogmatic theology and exegesis at the University of Breslau. He was very learned, but heavily infected with rationalistic doctrines.

D. continued the translation into German of Holy Scripture begun by D. Brentano (Frankfurt 1800-10); he translated the breviary into German, under the title: Erbauungsbuch für katholische Christen, 4 vols. (Augsburg 1792, Heilbronn 1820); he also wrote: Commentaria biblica in effatum Christi. « Tu es Petrus » (Bonn 1790; placed on the Index, decree of 5 February 1790); Necessitas linguarum orientalium ad S. Scriptorum intelligendum (Cologne 1783) and many other works of an exegetical nature.

Ambrogio di Santa Teresa