Early life and education While his exact birthdate is unknown, it is believed that Silesius was born in December 1624 in
Breslau, the capital of
Silesia. The earliest mention of him is the registration of his
baptism on Christmas Day, 25 December 1624. At the time, Silesia was a province of the
Habsburg Empire. Today, it is the southwestern region of
Poland. Baptized Johann Scheffler, he was the first of three children. His parents, who married in February 1624, were
Lutheran Protestants. His father, Stanislaus Scheffler (–1637), was of
Polish ancestry and was a member of the lower
nobility. Stanislaus dedicated his life to the military, was made Lord of
Borowice (or Vorwicze) and received a knighthood from King
Sigismund III. Franckenberg had been compiling a complete edition of Böhme's work at the time Scheffler resided in the Netherlands. The
Dutch Republic provided refuge to many religious
sects, mystics, and scholars who were persecuted elsewhere in Europe.
Priest and poet , gambling cards and dice, spectacles, and other immoral wares. The Lutheran authorities in the
Reformed states of the Empire were not tolerant of Scheffler's increasing mysticism, and he was publicly attacked and denounced as a
heretic. At this time, the
Habsburg rulers (who were Catholic) were pushing for a
Counter Reformation and advocated a re-Catholicisation of Europe. Scheffler sought to
convert to Catholicism and was received by the Church of
Saint Matthias in
Breslau on 12 June 1653. Upon being received, he took the name
Angelus, the
Latin form of "
angel", derived from the
Greek ángelos (, "messenger"); for his
epithet, he took
Silesius (
Latin for "
Silesian"). It is uncertain why he took this name, but he may have added it in honour of his native Silesia or to honour a favourite
scholastic, mystic or
theosophic author, to distinguish himself from other famous writers of his era: perhaps the
Spanish mystic writer
Juan de los Ángeles (author of
The Triumph of Love) or Lutheran theologian Johann Angelus in
Darmstadt. He no longer used the name Scheffler, but did on occasion use his first name, Johann. From 1653 until his death, he used the names
Angelus Silesius and also
Johann Angelus Silesius. Shortly after his conversion, on 24 March 1654, Silesius received an appointment as Imperial Court Physician to
Ferdinand III, the
Holy Roman Emperor. However, this was probably an honorary position to offer some official protection against Lutheran attackers, as Silesius never went to Vienna to serve the Imperial Court. It is very likely that he never practiced medicine after his conversion to Catholicism. In the late 1650s, he sought permission (a
nihil obstat or
imprimatur) from
Catholic authorities in Vienna and Breslau to begin publishing his poetry. He had begun writing poetry at an early age, publishing a few occasional pieces when a schoolboy in 1641 and 1642. He attempted to publish poetry while working for the Duke of Württemberg-Oels, but was refused permission by the Duke's orthodox Lutheran court clergyman, Christoph Freitag. However, in 1657, after obtaining the approval of the Catholic Church, two collections of his poems were published—the works for which he is known—
Heilige Seelen-Lust (''The Soul's Holy Desire
) and Der Cherubinische Wandersmann
(The Cherubinic Pilgrim''). On 27 February 1661, Silesius took
holy orders as a
Franciscan. Three months later, he was
ordained a priest in the Silesian
Duchy of Neisse—an area of successful re-Catholicisation and one of two
ecclesiastical states within the region (that is, ruled by a
Prince-Bishop). When his friend
Sebastian von Rostock (1607–1671) became
Prince-Bishop of Breslau, Silesius was appointed his
Rath und Hofmarschall (a counselor and
Chamberlain). During this time, he began publishing over fifty
tracts attacking Lutheranism and the
Protestant Reformation. Thirty-nine of these essays he later compiled into a two-volume
folio collection entitled
Ecclesiologia (1676).
Death After the death of the Prince-Bishop of Breslau in 1671, Silesius retired to the
Hospice of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star (the
Matthiasstift), a Jesuit house associated with the church of
Saint Matthias at Breslau. He died on 9 July 1677 and was buried there. Some sources claim he died from
tuberculosis ("consumption"), others describe his illness as a "wasting sickness." Immediately after news of his death spread, several of his Protestant detractors spread the untrue rumour that Silesius had hanged himself. By his Will, he distributed his fortune, largely inherited from his father's noble estate, to pious and charitable institutions, including orphanages. ==Importance==