**PEZ** (PETZ), BERNARD. — By his baptismal name Leopold, a Benedictine of Melk Abbey (Lower Austria), born on 22 February 1683 at Ybbs, died at Melk on 27 March 1735. He entered Melk in 1699 and from 1713 until his death served as librarian and director of the monastery’s museums.
He maintained a correspondence with scholars of his time, undertook extensive travels across much of Europe, and amassed abundant historical material for his publications. Among the principal collections edited by P. are: *Bibliotheca Benedictino-Mauriana* (Augsburg 1716); *Ven. Godifredi abbatis Admnuntensis homiliae* (2 vols., 1712); *Engilberti opuscula philosophica* (Regensburg 1727), as well as historical-patriotic, biographical, and miscellaneous works. Still highly useful are: *Thesaurus anecdotorum novissimus* (6 vols., Augsburg-Graz 1721–29); *Bibliotheca ascetica antiquo-nova* (12 vols., Regensburg 1723–40). He left much unpublished material, including in the abbey archives a substantial body of sources for a projected *Bibliotheca Benedictina generalis*.