GIOVANNI di DAMBACH. – Dominican theologian, born in 1288 (1289?) at Dambach in Alsace, died on 3 October (?) 1372, probably at Freiburg.
A Dominican from 1300, G. studied at Strasbourg and Cologne, where he had excellent teachers and the faithful friends Venturino da Bergamo and Taulero. He was on the side of Eckhart and Nicola di Strasburgo in 1327. Expelled with his brethren from Strasbourg (1338), he took refuge in Basel, continued his studies at Bologna (1341), and obtained the mastership in theology at Montpellier (1347). Sent by the general chapter of Bologna (1347) to the studium generale of Prague, where he taught for a short time, D. was dispatched by Charles IV to Avignon (1348), where he perhaps remained for two years. From 1350 to 1357 he was in Paris; from 1357 he stayed in Strasbourg, engaged in his literary work.
Personally pious and kind, a subtle and acute observer of people and things, G. propounds a rather rigid doctrine with nominalist tendencies. As an author, he is predominantly a compiler. His principal work, De consolatione theologiae, had a great influence on the religious life of the late Middle Ages and was disseminated in many copies as far as the North Sea and Spain; it constitutes a model for the consolatory literature that reached its apogee during the schism. With reasons for consolation drawn from theology, G. seeks to overcome his own suffering and that of others.
Writings: De consolatione theologiae II. 15 (from 1340 to 1365); De sensibilibus deliciis Paradisi; De culpa et Gratia; Exhortatio ad Carolinum IV. The following works are also attributed to him: De amore virtutum, De privilegio exemptorum, De simonia claustralium, De proprietate mendicantium, De quantitate indulgentiarum, De virtute indulgentiarum, Responsiones, De moderatione quartae, De redemptionibus.