EIS
368
EISENGREIN
enthroned in the little chapel erected by Eber-
hard, is the object of their devotion. This chapel
stands within the great abbey church, in much the
same way as the Holy House at Loreto, encased in
marbles and precious woodwork, elaborately deco-
rated, though it has been so often restored, rebuilt,
and adorned with the offerings of pilgrims, that it
may be doubted whether much of the original
sanctuary still remains. The fourteenth of Sep-
tember and the thirteenth of October are the chief
pilgrimage days, the former being the anniversary of
the miraculous consecration of Eberhard's basilica,
and the latter that of the translation of St. Meinrad 's
relics from Reichenau to Einsiedeln in 1039. The
millenary of St. Meinrad was kept there with great
bnues (Pari!
1S37); Pm
Dame-des-E
Benediktmi / 1 ' , / -,
Benediktiu' ! i> ' \\ ;
fiirsttichen 1>> m i.l. 'm. >-
1904), the most import
of the abbey.
1856); Regnieh, Chronique d' Einsiedeln (Paris,
Hi^toriqiie de I'Abbaye et du PHerinage de Notre-
' '. Ijii-i.Meln, 1870); UoRBh, Die Regesten der
I / ' - /./n (Chur, 1848); Brunner, Ein
' ^^\ '•: iiru:, 1880); Rii^ gholz, Geschichte des
' I.S L. F. von Einsiedeln (Ein.siedeln,
work on the history and antiquities
G. Cyprian Alston.
Eis, Frederick. See Marquette, Diocese of.
Eisengrein, Martin, a learned Catholic theologian and polemical writer, b. of Protestant parents at Stutt- gart, 28 December, 1535; d. at Ingolstadt, 4 May, 1578. He studied the humanities at the Latin school of Stuttgart, and the liberal arts and philosophy at the University of Tubingen. To please his father, who was
splendour in 1861. The great church has been
many times rebuilt, the last time by Abbot Maurus
between the years 1704 and 1719, and one of its
chief treasures now is a magnificent corona presented
by Napoleon III when he made a pilgrimage there in
1865. The library, which dates from 946, contains
nearly fifty thousand volumes and many priceless
MSS. The work of the monks is divided chiefly
between prayer, the confessional, and study. At
pilgrimage times the number of confessions heard is
very large. The community nimibers about one
hundred priests and forty lay brothers, and attached
to the abbey are a seminary and a college for about
two hundred and sixty boys, both of which are
taught by the monks, who also direct six convents
of nuns. In 1854 a colony was sent to America from
Einsiedeln to work amongst the native Indian tribes.
From St. Meinrad's Abbey, Indiana, which was the
first settlement, daughter-houses were founded, and
these in 1881 were formed into the Swiss-American
Congregation, which comprised (in 1906) seven
monasteries and nearly four himdred religious.
Dom Thomivs Bossart, the fifty-third .\bbot of Ein-
siedeln and formerly dean of the monastery, was
elected in 1905.
Gallia Christinna (Paris, 1781), V; Album Benedictinum (St. Vincent's, Pennsylvania, 1880); Migne, Did. des Ab-
burgomaster of Stuttgart, Eisengrein matriculated as
student of jurisprudence at the University of Ingol-
stadt, 25 May, 1553, but before a year had passed he
was at the University of Vienna, where he took the
degree of Master of Arts in May, 1554. During the
tolerant rule of Ferdinand 1, Eisengrein, though still a
Protestant, became in 1555 professor of oratory and,
two years later, of physics at the University of Vienna,
a Catholic institution. Though his Catholic surround-
ings and especially his frequent intercourse with the
Jesuits of Vienna may have had great influence in
bringing about his acceptance of the Catholic Faith,
still his conversion was one of conviction, as is appar-
ent from his numerous controversial writings and his
scrupulous solicitude for the integrity of Catholic
Faith and morals at the University of Ingolstadt. His
conversion took place about 1558. In 1559 he received
a canonry at St. Stephen's in Vienna, and a year later
he was ordainetl priest. In 1562 he went to the l^niver-
sity of Ingolstadt whither he had been invited by the
superintendent of the university, Frederick Staphylus.
He was appointed pastor of the church of St. Maurice,
which was incorporated with the university, and in
April of the same year he was elected rector of the
university. Besides being professor, he devoted much
of his time to the study of theology and, after receiv-
ing the degree of licentiate in this science on 11 No-
