MESCHLER, MORITZ. - Jesuit, ascetical writer, b. at Brig (Switzerland) on 6 Sept. 1830, d. at Exaeten (Holland) on 2 Dec. 1912. He was for a long time master of novices at Gorheim, Münster, Exaeten, Blyenbeck (1867-1916); provincial of Germany (1881-84), and from 1892 to 1906 at Fiesole assistant to the general for Germany; he spent his last years devoted to spiritual direction and to his work as a writer at Luxembourg and Exaeten.
The career he had followed and his fine spirit of observation offered him in ascetics a very vast field, where he was able to develop its theory and practice, founding it on sure rational and theological bases and employing, in setting it forth, a clear and elegant style that persuades and wins over. He is still today one of the favorite authors of spirituality.
He collaborated with numerous articles in Stimmen aus Maria-Laach, and wrote: Die Gabe des hl. Pfingstfrstes (Freiburg im Br. 1887); Das Leben unseres Herrn Jesu Christi in Betrachtungen (2 vols., ibid. 1850) followed by many editions and versions: Das Leben des hl. Aloysius v. Gonzaga (ibid. 1893; Italian version, Turin 1923); Aus dem katholischen Kirchenjahr (2 vols., ibid. 1905); Der göttliche Heiland. Ein Lebensbild (ibid. 1906); Drei Grundlehren des geistlichen Lebens (ibid. 1909); Das Exercitiembuch des hl. Ignatius (1st extra-commercial ed.; then posthumous, edited by W. Sierp [3 vols., ibid. 1926-28; Italian version, Turin 1934]).
Bibliography2 works
Arnaldo M. Lanz