Leisentrit, Johann

LEISENTRIT, JOHANN. - Theologian, apostolic protonotary, b. at Olmütz (Olomouc) in 1527, d. at Bautzen on 14 Nov. 1586. Canon at Bautzen in 1551, he was dean there from 1559 until his death. After the apostasy of the last bishop of Meissen, Johann von Haigwitz, the nuncio Melchior Biglia appointed him (1567) administrator and commissary general for Lusatia, whose Catholicism he saved against Lutheran propaganda.

L. collected many manuscripts and incunabula (destroyed in 1624 by a fire). He was a prolific writer: the 24 works of his that survive deal with ascetical, liturgical or polemical subjects (list in Gerblich [v. bibl.], pp. 24-30). He promoted the use of the vernacular in the administration of the Sacraments and translated into German the rite of Baptism

(Bautzen 1562), of Matrimony (ibid. 1568), of Extreme Unction (ibid. 1577). His request to celebrate Mass in German was rejected by St. Pius V and caused him to fall under suspicion of heresy. His hymns, spread throughout Germany, were published by Hans Wolrab: Geistliche Lieder und Psalmen... (2 vols., Bautzen 1565, 1567). The ed. of 1584 bears the title: Catholicum hymnologium Germanicum orthodoxae veroeque Ecclesiae, with noted music and settings. More important: Constitutio veteris apostolicae et orthodoxae Ecclesiae.