WILMERS, WILHELM. - Jesuit, theologian, b. at Boke (Westphalia) on 30 June 1817, d. at Roermond (Holland) on 9 May 1889.
Having entered the Order in 1834, he was professor of philosophy and theology to his confreres at Issenheim, Louvain, Cologne, Bonn, Aachen, Maria Laach; in 1860 he took part in the provincial Council of Cologne, having been called there as its collaborator by Card. Geissel; in 1869-70 he took part in the Vatican Council, as theologian of the apostolic vicar of Bombay. There, in reply to the pamphlets of Rauscher, Hefele and Mayer, and to the "quaestio" of Ketteler, he published: Animadversiones in 4 contra Romani Pontificis infallibilitatem editos libellos (Rome 1870). Having returned to the chair, he taught theology in the theological Faculty of Poitiers (1875-80) and at St-Hélier (1880-82); thereafter he devoted himself solely to his works.
Of these the principal remains the Lehrbuch der Religion (4 vols., Münster 1851-57; 7th ed., ibid. 1909-12, edited by Fr. J. Honteim; 8th ed., ibid. 1922-28, edited by Fr. A. Daneffe), very widespread and sought after, later completed by a Geschichte der Religion (2 vols., ibid. 1858; 7th ed., ibid. 1924, edited by Fr. O. Pföll). The compendium too: Kurzgefasstes Handbuch der Religion (ibid. 1871; Italian version, Rome 1901) was very widespread and translated into various languages as a school text. Finally he devoted himself to completing his Latin theological treatises: De religione revelata (Regensburg 1897); De Ecclesia Christi (ibid. 1897); De Fide (ibid. 1902, posthumous, edited by Fr. A. Lehmkuhl). Having passed from Cartesianism, learned while still a layman, to Scholasticism, after solid and long-continued studies, W. is to be counted, together with Fr. J. Klutgen, a pioneer of Neo-Scholasticism, of clear, solid and orderly exposition, even if generally concise.
Bibliography2 works
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