STORCHENAU, SIGMUND von. – Jesuit, philosopher, and apologist, born at Hollenburg (Carinthia) on 17 August 1731, died at Klagenfurt on 13 April 1797.
He entered the Order in 1747 and taught philosophy at the University of Vienna from 1763 to 1773, when the suppression of the Society of Jesus overtook him. He then retired to Klagenfurt, dividing his days between study and preaching.
His Institutiones logicae et metaphysicae (5 vols., Vienna 1769–91) met with great favor and went through several editions on account of the excellence of its style, organization, and clarity, as did Die Philosophie der Religion (7 vols., Augsburg 1775–81), especially its supplement, Zugaben zur Philosophie der Religion (5 vols., Vienna 1785–1788), in which he incisively and rigorously refutes the objections and complaints of the principal unbelievers of his time: Spinoza, Hobbes, Bayle, Tindal, Rousseau, Voltaire. Also worthy of mention are Der Glaube des Christen. Wie er sein soll (Augsburg 1792), and the collection of sermons under the title Die Moral des Christen. Wie sie sein soll (4 vols., ibid. 1793–96).