Immer, Albert

IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY: The title assumed by several Catholic religious orders.

1. Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary: Founded at Monroe, Mich., in 1845 through the efforts of Rev. Louis Gilet, a Belgian Redemptoriet. The establishment began with two nuns originally from Baltimore, Sister Ann and Sister Teresa, who assumed a blue habit with a dark veil. The object of the society is the education of the young, the care of asylums, hospitals, etc. In 1856 a branch of the congregation was established at Villa Maria, Westchester, Pa., and this foundation became the mother house for the dioceses of Pennsylvania. At present the sisters conduct establishments in the dioceses of Detroit, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Scranton, Altoona, Oregon, Boise City, and Seattle. The professed sisters number 925, the novices 144.

2. Sisters of the Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary: Founded in 1848 at Pico Heights, Los Angeles, Cal., where the mother house and novitiate are located. The sisters conduct educational and charitable institutions in the dioceses of Monterey and Los Angeles.

3. Sister-Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Good Shepherd): An order the mother house of which is in Quebec. Besides many institutions in Canada, the sisters of this institute have convents and teach in parochial schools at Biddeford, Me., and at Lawrence, Mass., but these establishments are subject to the superiors residing in Quebec.

4. Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary: An order of men founded in Spain in 1873. Besides the Spanish province, there is one in Africa and another in America, where the fathers conduct establishments in the dioceses of San Antonio and Monterey, Cal.

James F. Driscoll.

Bibliography: Currier, Ralipiow orders: The Qpial Catholic Directory, Milwaukee, Wia, 1908.

IMMER, ALBERT: Swiss theologian; b. at Unterseen (26 m. s.e. of Bern) Aug. 10, 1804; d. at Bern Mar. 23, 1884. A strong desire for knowledge, together with an "awakening" which he himself expressly attributed to the spirit of God, made him

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resume his interrupted study of theology in 1835, and three years later he was ordained to the ministry. For a time he acted as assistant preacher, visited Bonn and Berlin in 1840, and in 1845 was appointed pastor at Baren-on-the-Aar, whence he was called, four years later, to the chair of New Testament exegesis and dogmatics at the University of Bern. He sought to serve both science and the Church by allowing his pupils full freedom of belief, but while he won the confidence of the students, he failed to meet with sympathy among those who considered piety inseparable from confession of faith. As a consequence he was attacked in various periodicals, and wrote in his own defense two pamphlets: Die theologische Fakultdt und ihre Gegner, and Was wir glauben and lehren, sine Verwahrung gegen Missverstdndnisse, both of which appeared at Bern in 1864. Two years later he opposed the demands of the so-called reform party that the results of scientific researches be made known to the people from the pulpit as well as in the schools, and was accordingly accused of deserting his fundamental principles, whereas his attitude was really due to the fact that his concepts of God and revelation deviated from those held by the party.

Immer was the author of a Hermeneutik des Neuen Testaments (Wittenberg, 1873; Eng. transl., Hermeneutics of the New Testament, by A. H. New man, Andover, 1877) and a Theologie des Neuen Testaments (Bern, 1877), besides several collections of lectures. In 1852 he was appointed rector of the University of Bern.

(E. Blösch †.)

Bibliography: F. Treeheel, Der Goueapelehru H. A. Immer, Bern, 1899; E. Miner, in Volksblau far die reformi_rte Kirche der Schweiz. 1884, pp. 105 sqq.; R. Steek, in Protestantische Kirchenaeitang, 1884, no. 17; R. RQetschi, in Theologilulhs Zeitschrift sue der Schweiz, i. 35"82.