MARTINO DA COCHEM. - Capuchin, born at Cochern (Rhineland) on 13 Dec. 1634, died at Vaghäusen (Bruchsal) on 10 Sept. 1712. Lecturer in philosophy at Mainz (1664–68), visitor in the archdioceses of Mainz (1682–85) and Trier (1698–1700), indefatigable throughout his long life in popular preaching and catechesis in his homeland, the Tyrol, Austria, and Bohemia.
He contributed effectively to spreading and fostering the instruction and religious piety of the people through some seventy books and pamphlets, many of which were widely circulated and translated. He opened the series with a catechism, Kinderlehr-Büchlein (Cologne 1666), following the example of Bellarmine; very well known and of greater literary importance is Das Leben Christi (Frankfurt 1677; 4th ed., Das grosse Leben Christi, 2 vols., ibid. 1680; Das kleine Leben Christi, ibid. 1683); in Latin and German he compiled an exposition of the Mass, Messbuch (ibid. 1702); he gathered facts, examples, and legends for instructive purposes in Das auserlesene History-Buch (Dillingen 1687), and, drawing on the Annals of Baronius, in Kirchliche Historien (ibid. 1694). Among his many prayer books, hymnals, and manuals of devotion, including ones for the sick and soldiers, the Unerschägliches Büchlein von Gott (Mainz 1708) stands out for its theological content.