ESKIMOS, MISSIONS TO THE. See Egede, Hans.

ESPEN, ZEGER BERNHARD VAN: One of the canoeists who endeavored to carry out the principles of the episcopal system of the Roman Catholic Church as developed in France and exercised a great influence on the doctrine and practise developed from that system in the Netherlands and Germany; b. at Louvain July 9, 1646; d. at Amere-

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foort (12 m. e.n.e. of Utrecht) Oct. 2, 1728. He studied theology and canon law at Louvain, was made a priest in 1673, doctor of law in 1675 and professor of canon law in his native city. His lec tures and elegantly written works soon made him famous, and from all sides his decisions on canon law were demanded. His main work, Jus ecclesias tictcm universum (Louvain, 1700; Cologne, 1702), is still a treasure for the canonists, although it was put on the Index in 1704 because he defended the Jansenists.

E. Sehling.

Bibliography: Du Pac de Bellegarde, Vie de van Eapen, Louvain, 1767; F. Laurent, Van Eapen, 3 parts, Brussels,

1860-63; KL, iv. 904-905.

ESS, KARL AND LEANDER VAN: Two Roman Catholic Bible translators.

1. Karl van Ess was born at W arburg (18 m. s.e. of Padcrborn) Sept. 25, 1770; d. at Huysburg (30 m. s.w. of Magdeburg) Oct. 22, 1824. His ed ucation was begun in the gymnasium of the Do minicans at Warburg, whence he went to the abbey at Huysburg in 1788; he was made priest in 1794, and became prior of his abbey in 1801. When the abbey was closed in 1804, he became priest of the town of Huysburg and acted as vicar-general for Magdeburg, Halberstadt, and Helmstedt. He was an orthodox Catholic, but at first was so liberal in tendency that he included a number of Protes tant hymns in the Osnabrück Hymnal. After the fall of Napoleon and the rise of Prussia he became pronouncedly ultramontane and, in a short "His tory of Religion" published in 1817 on the occa sion of the celebration of the Reformation, crit icized sharply the Evangelical churches. His literary activity includes his part in the translation of the New Testament with his cousin Leander, Kurze Geschichte der Abtei Hreysburg (Halberstadt, 1810), Katechismzcs (1822), and the Kurze Geschichte der Religion referred to above.

E. Nestle.

Bibliography: F. C. Folder von Borrommo, Gelehrten and SchriftatelZer-Lexikon, i. 202. Landahut, 1817; ADB, vi.

377; KL, iv. 908.

2. Johann Heinrich, better known by his Benedictine name Leander van Ees, was born at Warburg Feb. 15, 1772; d. at Affolderbach (20 m. n.e. of Heidelberg) Oct. 13, 1847. He was educated by the Dominicans at Warburg; entered the Benedictine abbey Marienmiinster near Paderborn, 1790; was made priest and pastor at Schwalenberg, 1796. He became preacher for the Catholic Church at Marburg and professor in the university there in 1812; and retired in 1822. He was deeply interested in the dissemination of the Bible, and wrote many pamphlets in which he advocated more frequent use of the Scriptures by the laity. With his cousin Karl he published a German translation of the New Testament (Brunswick, 1807); alone he published the Old Testament in German (part 1, Sulzbach, 1822, part 2, 183G), and with his pupil Wetzer the whole Bible in three parts (1840). In 1821 he prefixed a preface to a work on mixed marriages by a Roman Catholic priest and it was put on the Index Dec. 17, 1821, and two days later the same was done with his translation of the New Testament, though the latter received the commendation of the Roman Catholic faculty at Tübingeu

and of the vicar-general of Bruchsal. His edition of the Vulgate was published in three parts (1822-1824); and of the Septuagint in 1824 (latest ed. by E. Nestle, with Prolegomena and Epilegomena,1887 ); in his New Testament he combined the Complutensian and Erasmian readings. In the copies circulated by the BFBS, the prefaces have been removed. Other writings are: Pragmatics doctorum catholicorum Tridentini circa Yulgatam deereti sensum historic (Sulzbaeh, 1801); Pragmatiseh-kritische Geschichte der Vulgatd (Tübingen, 1821); Wesenlehren des christlichen Glaubercs and Lebens (1823).

E. Nestle.

Bibliography: F. C. Folder von Borromaro, Gekhrten urrd SchrifZateller-Lexikon, i. 203-204, Landehut, 1817; H. E.

8eriba, Biographiach-Ziterfirisches Lexikon, i. 94-97, Darmstadt, 1831; ADB, vi. 377 sqq.; KL, iv. 909-910.