WEISS, ALBERT MARIA. — Dominican apologist, born on 22 April 1844 at Indersdorf (Bavaria), died on 15 August 1925 at Fribourg in Switzerland.
Ordained a priest in 1867, he taught at Freising, where he prepared the 2nd ed. of Herder’s Kirchenlexikon. He became a Dominican at Graz on 19 July 1876; during his stays in various European cities, he formed relationships which he employed in the defense of Catholic doctrine as an author, teacher, and adviser to private individuals, authorities, and movements (e.g., the Christian Social Movement and the Union de Fribourg).
With theological acuity, he investigated the problems of the contemporary spirit in the light of the Fathers, the Scholastics, and the saints, refuting liberalism in its religious and social aspects.
He wrote: Die altkirchl. Pädagogik (Fribourg 1869, articles in the diocesan periodicals of Munich and Eichstätt, Historisch-polit. Blätter, Theol.-prakt. Quartalschrift); Apologie des Christentums vom Standpunkt der Sitte u. Kultur (5 vols., Fribourg 1878–89; 4th ed. 1904–1908, reprint 1923, Italian translation by C. Benetti, Trento 1894–1908); extract Jesus Christus (Fribourg 1922); Gesetze für die Berechnung von Kapitalizins u. Arbeitslohn (there 1883); B. Herder (there 1889, 2nd ed. 1890); Lebensweisheit in der Tasche (there 1893, 16th ed. 1920); Die Kunst zu leben (there 1900, 15th ed. 1923); Die religiöse Gefahr (there 1904); Lutherpsychologie (Mainz 1905); Lebens- u. Gewissensfragen der Gegenwart (2 vols., Fribourg 1911); Liberalismus u. Christentum (Trier 1914); Lebensweg u. Lebenswerk (autobiography, Fribourg 1925). He edited the editions of M. J. Scheeben, Die Herrlichkeiten der göttl. Gnade (5th–15th ed., there 1894–1925, reprint 1933), and of H. Deniffe, Luther u. Luthertum (2nd ed., I, II and II, Mainz 1906–1909).