AMORT, EUSEBIUS (1692--1775), German Catholic theologian,
was born at Bibermuhle, near Tolz, in Upper Bavaria, on
the 15th of November 1692. He studied at Munich, and at
an early age joined the Canons Regular at Polling, where,
shortly after his ordination in 1717, he taught theology and
philosophy. In 1733 he went to
Rome as theologian to Cardinal
Niccolo Maria Lercari (d. 1757). He returned to Polling in 1735
and devoted the rest of his life to the revival of learning in
Bavaria. He died at Polling on the 5th of February 1775.
Amort, who had the reputation of being the most learned man
of his age, was a voluminous writer on every conceivable
subject, from poetry to astronomy, from dogmatic theology to
mysticism. His best known works are: a manual of theology
in 4 vols., Theologia electica, moralis et scholastica
(Augsburg, 1752; revised by Benedict XIV. for the 1753
edition published at Bologna); a defence of Catholic doctrine,
entitled Demonstratio critica religionis Catholicae
(Augsburg, 1751); a work on indulgences, which has often been
criticized by Protestant writers, De Origine, Progressu,
Valore, et Fructu Indulgentiorum (Augsburg, 1735); a treatise
on mysticism, De Revelationibus et Visionibus, etc. (2
vols., 1744); and the astronomical work Nova philosophiae
planetarum et artis criticae systemata (Nuremberg, 1723).
The list of his other works, including his three erudite
contributions to the question of authorship of the Imitatio
Christi, will be found in C. Toussaint's scholarly article
in A. Vacant's Dict. de theologie (1900, cols. 1115-1117).
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed
![[Home]](wikipedia.png)