Faber, John

, sirnamed from one of his works, the Hammer of Heretics, “Malleus Hereticorum,” was born in Suabia in 1479, and distinguished himself in the universities of Germany in the sixteenth century. In 1519 he was appointed vicar-general to the bishop of Constance; in 1526, Ferdinand king of the Romans, afterwards emperor, named him as his confessor, and in 1531, advanced | him to the see of Vienna. He died in 1542, at the age of sixty-three. His works are comprised in three volumes folio, printed at Cologne in 1537—1541; but that for which he was most celebrated was entitled “Malleus Haereticorum,” in which he discusses many controversial points with considerable warmth, and was considered by those of his persuasion as a formidable enemy to the reformers. Luther having been one of his opponents, Erasmus said, when he was advanced to the episcopacy, “that Luther, poor as he was, found means to enrich his enemies.” He was impetuous in argument, and his enemies attributed to him many indiscreet expressions, the consequence of the anger he felt in being conquered in debate. There was another divine of the same names, and who lived about the same time, and distinguished himself by many controversial writings against the reformed religion, which are no longer remembered. ¹