- Adolf Pfister
Adolf Pfister (born at
Hechingen inHohenzollern ,26 September 1810 ; died atOber-Dischingen inWürtemberg ,29 April 1878 ) was a GermanRoman Catholic priest and educator.Life
He was educated at the Latin school at Hechingen, at the Lyceum of
Rastatt , and later atSasbach . He then studied theology at the Grand Seminary ofStrasburg , and was ordained to the priesthood, 25 May, 1833, atFreiburg .After serving for five months as curate at Sasbach, and for a year as assistant at
Freiburg Cathedral , he returned to Hohenzollern, and, from 1835 to 1838, was curate atSteinhofen near Hechingen. In 1838 he obtained civic rights in Würtemberg, and as a priest of theDiocese of Rottenburg , he waspastor first inDotternhausen ; 31 January, 1839, atRosawangen ; 11 May, 1841, atRisstissen ; from 1851 also school inspector inEhingen .On 12 August, 1867, the Catholic theological faculty of the
University of Tübingen granted him the degree of Doctor of Theology. In May, 1877, he retired to Ober-Dischingen.Works
In 1857 he founded the "Rottenburger Kirchenblatt", which he published for three years. From 1860 he edited the "Katholisches Schulwochenblatt" Spaichingen), which, together with
Hermann Rolfus , he continued as "Süddeutsches katholisches Schulwochenblatt" (1861-67), and with J. Haug and Fr. J. Knecht as "Magazin für Pädagogik" (1868-72).His major work was the editing with Rolfus of the "Real-Encyclopädie des Erziehungs- und Unterrichtswesens nach katholischen Principien" (4 vols., Mainz, 1863-66; 2nd ed., 1872-1874; a 5th vol., "Ergänzungsband", was published by Rolfus alone in 1884 after Pfister's death). Among Pfister's other writings were:
*"Unterricht uber das Werk der Glaubensverbreitung" (Freiburg, 1850);
*a German translation ofThomas à Kempis , "Vier Bücher von der Nachfolge Christi" (Freiburg, 1860; 4th ed., 1873) and "Kinderlegende" (Freiburg, 1863);he also compiled several prayer-books.
References
*ROLFUS AND PFISTER, Real-Encyclopädie des Erziehungs- und Unterrichtswesens, Ergänzungsband (Mainz, 1884), 265-7;
*KEHREIN, Biographisch-literarisches Lexicon der katholischen deutschen Dichter, Volks-und Jugendschriftseller im 19. Jahrhundert, II (Würzburg, 1871), 9;
*NEHER, Personal-Katalog der Geistlichen des Bisthums Rottenburg (3rd ed., Schwäbisch Gmünd, 1894), 54.
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