Ambrose Pelargus

Ambrose Pelargus

Theologian, born at Nidda, Hesse, about 1488; died at Trier, 1557. Stork (Greek Pelargon, whence Pelargus) entered the Dominican order probably at Freiburg, Breisgau. He was famed for his eloquence and admired for the elegance of his writings, being skilled in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. His polemical efforts were directed principally against the Anabaptists, the Iconoclasts, and those who rejected the Mass. He attended the Diet of Worms (1540) and the Council of Trent in 1546, as theologian and procurator of the Archbishop of Trier. On 10 May, 1546, he addressed the assembled Fathers. When the Council was transferred to Bologna in 1547, Charles V, incensed against Pelargus because he had favoured the transfer, induced the archbishop to recall him, but the latter chose him again as his theologian in 1561. His principal works are: "Apologia sacrificii eucharistiae contra Oecolampadium" (Basle, 1528); "Hyperaspismus, seu apologiae propugnatio..." (Basle, 1529); "Opuscula", against Anabaptists and Iconoclasts (Freiburg, 1534); "Divina S. Joannis Chrysos. Liturgia, e Graeco Latine ab Ambrosio Pelargo versa et illustrata" (Worms, 1541); "Inter Pelargum et Erasmum epistolae" (Cologne, 1539).

D. J. KENEDY