MERZ, PHILIPP PAUL. - Biblical homiletic-catechetical author born in Augsburg. A Protestant, he was a Lutheran theologian and preacher in Strasbourg and Kehl. On 12 August 1725 he converted to Catholicism, was later ordained a priest, and from 1740 to 1754 served as parish priest in Schwabsoyen (Bavaria) and Augsburg, where he died on 15 October 1754.
Publications: *Thesaurus Biblicus, i.e. dicta et exempla Biblica* (Augsburg 1733 and many subsequent editions; 3rd Italian ed., Cremona 1842): a real concordance (v. CONCORDANCE); *Onomasticum Biblicum seu index ac dictionarium historico-etymologicum* (ibid. 1738), the second part of the *Thesaurus*, whose foundation is the *Thesaurus Biblicorum* by Guglielmo Alot: Merz arranged all biblical texts relating to the same subject in alphabetical order so that theologians and especially preachers might have them all gathered together; *Quodlibet catecheticum, i.e. Vollkommener und vollständiger Christenlehrer* (5 vols., ibid. 1752): a catechetical work compiled from more than twenty famous catechists; he also wrote an explanation of the ceremonies of the Mass for his parishioners (ibid. 1751).