6EILER
404
OEILER
be exactly determined. According to this history he
was closely connected with those humanists of Stras-
burg of whom the leader was the well-known Jacob of
Wimpheling (1450-1528), called "the educator of
Germany". Like Wimpheling, Geiler was a secular
priest; both fought the ecclesiastical abuses of the
age, but not in the spirit of Luther and his adherents.
They looked, instead, for salvation and preservation
only in the restoration of Christian morals in Church
and State through the faithful maintenance of the
doctrines of the Church. The scene of Wimpheling's
fruitful labours was the school, that of Geiler's the
pulpit.
The surname " von Kaysersberg", given to Geiler by his contemporaries, was taken from the name of the place where his grandfather, who brought him up, lived. The father was killed by a hunting-accident when Geiler was three years old; and the excellent grandfather, who lived in Kaysers- lierg, took charge of the education of the child, send- ing him to the school at Ammer- sweiher, near Kay- sersberg in Alsace, where his mother lived. When the talented boy was fifteen years old he went to the Uni- versity of Freiburg in the Breisgau, which had just been opened; two years later he re- ceived the bac- calaureate, and after two more years was made master of arts. He now gave lec- tures on various writings of Aristotle in the next semes- ter, and in the following half-year filled the office of dean of the philosophical faculty for a brief period. In May, 1471, he went to the University of Basle, also founded but a short time before, in order to study theology, and obtained the doctorate in 1475. At Basle he became acquainted with Sebastian Brant, with whom he formed a lasting friendship. While at Basle, Geiler preached his first sermons in the cathe- dral and greatly enjoyed his pulpit labours; the con- fessional, however, caused him many difficulties of conscience. Basle, nevertheless, was not to be the place where his powers were to find their permanent employment. At the entreaty of the students of Frei- burg, the magistracy and citizens of that city ob- tained his appointment to the Freiburg University, of which he was elected rector the next year. But lec- turing to students was not congenial to him; his in- clination was always for preachmg, and in this latter office his talents found a life-work suited to them. For a time he preached in the cathedral of Wurzburg, in which city he thought of making his permanent home, but a fortunate accident changed his plans. Peter Sehott, senator of Strasburg, an important and influential citizen who had charge of the property of the cathedral, urged strongly upon Geiler, now a well- known preacher, that his first duty was to the people of Alsace; accordingly Geiler resolved, notwithstanding the entreaties of the citizens of Wiirzburg, to settle in Strasburg, and pursuant to this decision he remained there the rest of his life.
Before this date the mendicant orders had supplied the pulpit of the cathedral of Strasburg. On account, however, of the frequent change of preachers and,
JoHANN Geiler vun J:LA\t?i.KsBEKG
Reproduceti from Reusner, **Icones"
(Strasburg, 1587)
above all, owing to some friction between the mendi-
cants and the parish priests, the cathedral chapter,
together with the bishop and the city authorities, de-
sired to have a secular priest appointed to fill the office
permanently. Consequently a special position as
preacher was made for Geiler, and he filled this ap-
pointment with apostolic courage and intense zeal for
souls for over thirty years. He not only preached, as
required, every Sunday and feast day in the cathedral,
and even daily during fasts, but also, on special occa-
sions, in the monasteries of the city and often outside
of the city. His daily life, passed in this simple
round of duties, was only broken by occasional short
journeys for which he apparently used his monthly
holiday. Thus he frequently visited Frederick of
ZoUern, Bishop of Augsburg, who was very friendly to
him ; once he was called to Fiissen on the River Lech
by his special patron the Emperor Maximilian, who de-
sired his advice. He seems to have taken his short
intervals of rest, when possible, for making pious pil-
grimages, generally in the vicinity of his home, some-
times to distant spots. At Einsiedein in Svritzerland
he met the Blessed Nikolaus of Fliie, who was even
then well known; another time he journeyed to
Sainte-Baume, near Marseilles, in order to pray in the
grotto of St. Mary Magdalen. At home he lived very
plainly, even austerely. It was only natural that a
life of such incessant labour, one in which the powers
were constantly exerted to the utmost and none of the
comforts of ease were enjoyed, should soon wear out
the bodily frame. A kidney trouble developed, to re-
lieve which he was obliged to visit annually the hot
springs of Baden; dropsy finally appeared, and he
passed away on Latare Sunday of the year above men-
tioned. The next day, in the presence of an immense
multitude of people, he was buried at the foot of the
pulpit which had been especially built for hini, and of
which he had been for so many years the greatest orna-
ment.
The numerous volumes of Geiler's sermons and writings which have been published do not give a complete picture of the characteristic qualities of the preacher. God's grace had made Geiler an orator, and the aim Geiler sought, without regard to other considerations, was to produce the most powerful effect on his hearers. He prepared himself with great care for the pulpit, writing out his sermons before- hand, as his contemporary Beatus Rhenanus reports; these preparatory compositions, however, were drawn up, not in German, but in Latin. Only a very small part of the .sermons that have been issued under his name are directly his. At a very early date his ad- dresses were taken down by others and published. The best critic of Geiler's works, the well-known writer on Hterary history. Prof. E. Martin of Strasburg, has made the attempt, in the " ,\llgemeine deutsche Biographic ", to give a summary of Geiler's genuine writings; according to him the authenticated writings number thirty-five. Notwithstanding this rich ma- terial, a proper appreciation of the extraordinary preacher is very difficult, because it is not certain that any of the extant works give exactly what Geiler said. One thing, however, is evident from them, that the Strasburg preacher was a widely read man not only in tlieology, but also in the secular literatiire of the day. This is shown by the sermons having Selxistian Brant's "Ship of Fools", which appeared in 1494, for their theme; these sermons attained the greatest popularity. Geiler displayed, also, exceptional facility in using public events to attract and hold the attention of his hearers. In originality of speech Geiler is in form, as in time, between Berthold of Ratisbon and .\braham a Sancta Clara, and perhaps the shortest and best characterization of the greatest preacher of the early Reformation period is indicated by this inter- mediate position; Berthold 's homeliness of address showed only occasional lapses from the proprieties of
