SAILER, SEBASTIAN. — Premonstratensian preacher and writer, secular name Johann Valentin, born at Weissenhorn on 12 February 1714, died at Obermarchtal on 7 March 1777. He took the habit (c. 1731) in the imperial abbey of Obermarchtal (Swabia), was ordained priest in 1738, then taught canon law in the abbey; later for many years he served as parish priest successively at Reutlingendorf and Dieterskirch, and from 1773 again in the abbey.
S. was a preacher of exceptional popularity (“the Cicero of Swabia”). For his dramatic works, mostly humorous in character, he employed the Swabian dialect, thus becoming the pioneer of this literary genre in Swabia. Among other works he published an imitation of the *Maria* of Thomas à Kempis (*Kempensis Marianus, sive Libellus unicus de imitatione Mariae Virginis et Matris Dei*, Günzburg 1764), which was reprinted several times and translated into various languages. On account of his wide learning, originality, quickness in repartee and good humour, S. is often Clareno (v.), his famous compatriot.