Alzog, Johann Baptist

ALZOG, ɑ̄l´tsoh, JOHANN BAPTIST: Roman Catholic; b. at Ohlau (17 m. s.e. of Breslau), Silesia, June 29, 1808; d. at Freiburg-im-Breisgau Mar. 1, 1878. He studied at Breslau and Bonn, served as private tutor, and was ordained priest in 1834. He became professor of church history and exegesis at Posen (1836), Hildesheim (1845), and Freiburg (1853). While at Posen he supported his archbishop, Martin von Dunin in his measures against mixed marriages. In 1869 he became a member of the commission on dogma in the preparation for the Vatican Council, and was the only member of the commission who held the declaration of papal infallibility as wholly inopportune. His chief works were: Universalgeschichte der christlichen Kirche vom katholischen Standpunkte (Mainz, 1841; 10th ed. by F. X. Kraus, Handbuch der allgemeinen Kirchengeschichte, 2 vols., 1882; Eng. transl., from 9th ed., 3 vols., Cincinnati, 1874-78, new ed., 1903; it is said that the English translation does not faithfully reproduce the original, being less candid and reliable); Grundriss der Patrologie oder die ältern christlichen Litterargeschichte (Freiburg, 1866); Die deutschen Plenarien im 15ten und zu Anfang des 16ten Jahrhunderts (1874).

Bibliography: F. X. Kraus, Gedächtnissrede auf Johannes Alzog, Freiburg, 1879.