FABRI, JOHANNES. - Born in 1478 at Leutkirch, died in Vienna on 21 May 1541. He earned a doctorate in theology at Tübingen and in law at Freiburg. Vicar at Lindau, parish priest in his native town, canon and official of the Bishop of Basel, he everywhere became renowned for his apostolic zeal. After a brief stay in Rome (1517), he became vicar general of Constance; during that period he was the most formidable adversary of Zwingli, with whom he engaged in a public disputation (1523). Confessor and counsellor to Ferdinand of Austria, he was elected Bishop of Vienna in 1530.
At the first signs of the Lutheran Reformation, he entered the struggle decisively, both through writings and preaching. His *Malleus in haeresim Lutheranam* dates from 1524. He took part in the Diet of Augsburg (1530), and at the request of Charles V he drafted, together with other Catholic theologians, the reply to the Confession. His opinions on the technical preparation of the Council, expressed in a lengthy letter to the Pope (6 July 1536), proved most useful to Contarini; F. was one of the most ardent supporters of the Council, seeing in it
