ERBERMANN, Vitus. - Theological controversialist. Born into a Lutheran family in Rentweinsdorf (Bavaria) on 25 May 1597, died in Mainz on 8 April 1675. After converting in 1620, he entered the Society of Jesus. For 27 years he taught philosophy, dogmatic theology, moral theology, and controversies; then for 7 years he directed the Pontifical Seminary of Fulda. His long teaching career equipped him with wide learning, rigorous logic, and a rare clarity of exposition, making him a formidable opponent of the errors of his time. He particularly fought the syncretism that sought to reconcile the novelties of the Reformers with the unchanging principles of Catholicism.
He wrote: *Anatomia Calixitina* (Mainz 1644); *Irenicon catholicum* (3 vols., ibid. 1645–46); *Interrogationes apologeticae* (Würzburg 1651); *Examen examinis Contrinitatis* (ibid. 1655); *Anti-Museans*, i.e. *Parallelia Ecclesiae vera et falsa* (ibid. 1655); *Anti-Museans pars altera* (ibid. 1661); *Nervi sine mole* (ibid. 1661; in defense of Bellarmine); *Asserta de fide divina* (ibid. 1665); *Trophaei Romana S. Catholicae Ecclesiae* (Mainz 1672).