STARCK, JOHANN AUGUST von. - Crypto-Catholic theologian, b. 28 Oct. 1741 at Schwerin, d. 3 March 1816 at Darmstadt. He studied theology and Oriental languages at Göttingen (1760-1763), where he came under Masonic influence: his rapid career is perhaps due in part to the fact that until 1778 he was an active member of the sect in whose favor he wrote: Apologie des Ordens der Freymaurer (Berlin 1770).
He became professor of Roman antiquities at St. Petersburg. In 1765 he undertook a long journey through Italy and France, and on 8 Feb. 1766 he converted to Catholicism and made his abjuration in the church of St. Sulpice in Paris. Although the acts signed by him and by the witnesses exist, he kept the matter secret throughout his life and retained the office of Protestant pastor. He was professor of Oriental languages at Königsberg (1770), lecturer in theology (1773), court preacher (1776), professor of philosophy at Mitau (1777), and finally was called to Darmstadt by the Landgrave Louis of Hesse (1778), where he received many honors and the title of baron (1811). The manuscripts of his sermons, in the possession of the family, show with what diligence he attended to the duties of his office.
He had to defend himself against many adversaries, and against the accusation of crypto-Catholicism he wrote: Über Kryptokatholizismus, Proselytenmacherei, Jesuitismus, geheime Gesellschaften (Frankfurt 1787); in Thriumph der Philosophie des 18. Jahrhunderts (ibid. 1803; 3rd ed. 1847) he condemned the Enlightenment. His most famous work is Theoduls Gastmahl oder über die Vereinigung der verschiedenen christlichen Religionssocietäten (ibid. 1809, 4th ed. 1828), in which he proves that "Protestants must return to the Catholic Church if they do not wish to slide into naturalism."
Bibliography2 works
Hermine Kühn-Steinhausen