PROBST, FERDINAND. - Liturgist, b. at Ehingen (Württemberg) on 29 March 1816, d. at Breslau on 26 Dec. 1899. He completed his early studies in his native land and then at Tübingen, where he was ordained priest on 16 Sept. 1840.
He served as vicar at Wangen in 1841, then as parish priest at Pfarrkirchen in 1843, and attended the lectures of Hefele. On 25 Nov. 1851 he obtained his doctorate in theology. In 1864 he was appointed professor of pastoral theology at the University of Breslau, of which he was rector in 1889–90. He became a canon in 1886, and from 1896 was provost of the cathedral.
A scholar of ancient liturgy and the Fathers of the Church, he wrote many important works distinguished by critical depth, though not all his conclusions were universally accepted: *Kirchliche Benedictionen und ihre Verkultung* (1857); *Liturgie der drei ersten christlichen Jahrhunderte* (1870); *Geschichte der katholischen Kirche* (1886); *Sakramente und Sakramentalien in den drei ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten* (1872); *Kirchliche Disciplinen in den drei ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten* (1873); *Die ältesten römischen Sakramentalien und Ordines* (Münster 1892); *Liturgie des VI. Jahrhunderts und deren Reform* (1893); *Die abendländische Messe vom V. bis zum VIII. Jahrhundert* (1896); etc. He also contributed to many scholarly journals.