JOHANN AMBROS ZOBEL. – Redemptorist, b. at Schattenwald (Tyrol) on 7 Dec. 1815, d. at Luxembourg on 6 Sept. 1893.
From 1843, the year of his priestly ordination, for exactly fifty years he exercised the ministry of preaching in Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg, while at the same time devoting himself to spreading the Congregation to which he belonged. Among other things, he is credited with the founding of the houses at Bochum and Luxembourg.
A sacred orator of singular eloquence, he loved to address the common people, especially through penitential missions and adult catechesis, fostering devotion to the Holy Family of Nazareth. Indeed, his little book of prayers and meditations (Die hl. Familie) went through some ten editions between 1853 and 1900 and is still widely circulated in German-speaking countries. Other works of piety and several volumes of sermons by him have also appeared in print (cf. A. de Meulemeester, Bibl. gen. des écrivains rédemptoristes; II, Louvain 1935, pp. 479-80). A particularly glorious page in Zobel’s life was his vigorous defence of the rights of the Church against Bismarck’s Kulturkampf, conducted with such apostolic zeal that it cost him expulsion from the German Reich.