FORER, LORENZ. - Jesuit theologian and controversialist, b. in Lucerne in 1580, d. in Regensburg on 7 Jan. 1659. Professor of dogmatics at the Universities of Ingolstadt and Dillingen, a vigorous polemicist, he attacked Protestant theology to its foundations, precisely in the classic period of "Lutheran orthodoxy."

Of his anti-Protestant writings, the following are to be remembered: Lutherus thaumaturgus (Dillingen 1624); Bellum ubiquisticum vetus et novum (ibid. 1627); Mantissa antianatomiae Iesniticae (ibid. 1635); important for the history of the controversies of the 17th century; Antiquitas papatus (4 vols., ibid. 1633-35); it is the principal work, in which F. treats of Scripture and Tradition, of the Church and the pope, of fasts and Confession, of Baptism and the Eucharist (above all of the real presence and of the Mass); Questio vexata ac plus quam integro saeculo agitata: ubinam terrarum ac gentium fuerit ante Lutherum, Zwinglium, Calvinum protestantium ecclesia (I, Amberg 1653; II, Ingolstadt 1655). He also wrote various works of philosophy.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: Sommervogel, III, coll. 838-76; J. v. Döllinger-F. H. Reusch, Moralstreitigkeiten in der römisch-katholischen Kirche, I, Nördlingen 1889, pp. 536-77; II, ibid. 1889, pp. 300-16; B. Duhr, Gesch. der Jesuiten in den Ländern. deutscher Zunge, II, II, Freiburg im Br. 1913, passim, but especially pp. 73-77; 411-13.

Antonio Pirlanti

@incollection{ec5_forer_lorenz, author = {Piolanti, Antonio}, title = {Forer, lorenz}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1513--1514}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/forer-lorenz} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

Forer, Lorenz

About this entry