INCHOFER (IMHOFER), MELCHIOR: Roman Catholic theologian; b. at Vienna (according to others at Gains [55 m. n.e. of Graz], Hungary) 1584 or 1585; d. at Milan Sept. 28, 1648. In 1607 he entered the order of the Jesuits in Rome, and after the completion of his novitiate went to Messina, where he taught philosophy, mathematics, and theology. In his Egdstolm Beatm Marim Virg£nis ad Messanenses roeritas vindicate (Messina, 1629) he endeavored to prove the genuineness of the epistle and the apostolic activity of Paul at Messina, but the Congregation of the Index summoned him to Rome and suppressed the first, edition, although he was permitted to remove all objectionable features from his work and republish it under the title De Eppisiola Beaten Virginia Manor and memanemes Conjectatio (Viterbo, 1631). In 1634 he resumed his professorship in Sicily, where he remained until 1636, when his order called him to Rome that he might devote himself entirely to literary labors. His dispute with Joachim Pasqualigo on the immorality of making castrati, and his appointment as member of the congregation of the index and of the holy office dissatisfied him with Rome, and at his own request he was transferred in 1646 to the college at Macerata, where he intended to devote his leisure hours to the compilation of a history of martyrs. For this purpose he undertook a journey to the Ambrosian library at Milan, but died on the way. In addition to the works already noted, he wrote Annales mdeeimtici rrgni Hungarim (Rome, 1644), and Historia sacrce Latiaidatis (Messina, 1635), in which he elevated Latin to the rank of a heavenly court language and regarded it as the speech of the blessed. He was also the author of some astronomical works, and in three polemical treatises (1638-41) he defended the order of the Jesuits and its mode of education. He attained his chief fame, however, by the anonymous Lucia emncdii Europmi monarchia Solipaorum, ad virum clarissimum Leonem AIWium (Venice, 1645), which was incorrectly attributed to him.

(G. E. Steitz †.)

Bibliography: Nio&on, Mhwires, xxzv. 322-346; xxxix.

166-230: A. and A. de Baoket.-BibliofAkue do la cmwpapnie de Jim, ed. Q Sommervogel, iv. 661 sqq., Paris, 1893; KL, vi. 629-831.

INCLUSI, INCLUSAE: The name given to a monk or a nun who was permanently enclosed in a cell near or within a cloister, from which withdrawal Inight take place only by permission of the bishop. The life of the secluded nun is portrayed in the Regina sfve I:nstutdw incluslw;um ascribed to Ailred (q.v.), MPL, czcv., cf- xxxii. 1451 sqq.