GAMS, PIUS BONIFACIUS. – Benedictine historian, b. on 23 January 1816 at Mittelbuch (Württemberg), d. on 11 May 1892 in Munich. Ordained a priest in 1839, he became professor of history and theology at Hildesheim in 1847.
Having entered the Benedictine Order in 1855, he was novice master and prior at the Abbey of St. Boniface in Munich; his name is associated with the very useful Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae (Regensburg 1873), with a supplement extending to 1885. Among his other works, worthy of mention are the Geschichte der Kirche Jesu Christi im neurechneten Jahrhundert mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Deutschland (3 vols., Innsbruck 1854–58) and the Kirchengeschichte von Spanien (3 vols., Regensburg 1862–79), which is his most important work.