DORSTEN, GIOVANNI da.—Augustinian, theologian, and preacher, born at Dorsten in Westphalia in the first half of the 15th century, died in 1481. He opposed the spiritual doctrines upheld by Giovanni di Lutrie, and at Erfurt (1465) composed a Disputatio de spolibet against the prophecies of Abbot Gioacchino (ms. 2064 in the Stadtbibliothek of Trier). In 1467 he became provincial of the Augustinian province of Saxony. He taught theological subjects with distinction at the University of Erfurt.
At the request of the Synod of Mainz (1471), he wrote against simony: Tractatus sive collatio synodalis de statutis Ecclesiarum (Erfurt 1489). His work was also printed: Determinatio de cenere miraculoso D. N. Jesu Christi in monasterio Goterensi [of Wilsnack] (Leipzig 1510).