KIRN, OTTO: German Protestant; b. at Heslach (a suburb of Stuttgart) Jan. 23, 1857. He studied at the theological seminaries of Maulbronn and Blaubeuren and at the University of Tübingen (1875-80; lic. theol., 1886; Ph.D., 1889), and after being lecturer at the theological seminary at Tübingen 1881-84, was deacon at Besigheim, WfIrttemberg, until 1889. In 1889 he became privat-docent at the University of Basel, where he was appointed associate professor in 1890 and full professor in 1894. Since 1895 he has been professor of dogmatic theology at the University of Leipsic. He has written Ueber Wesen und Begründung der religiösen Gewissheit (Basil, 1889); Schleiermacher und die Romantik (1895); Glaube und Geschichte (Leipsic, 1900); Grundriss der evangelischen Dogmatik (1905); Grundriss der theologischen Ethik (1906); and many addresses and sermons.

KIRWAN, WALTER BLAKE: Church of Ireland; b. of Roman Catholic parents at Gort (18 m. s.e. of Galway), County Galway, Ireland, in the year 1754; d. at Mount Pleasant, near Dublin, Oct. 27, 1805. He studied in the Jesuit College of Saint Omer, France; lived at Saint Croix (or Santa Cruz), Lesser Antilles, with a relative who was a large landed proprietor, but ill health caused his return to Europe. He entered the Franciscan order, studied in the College of St. Anthony of Padua, at Louvain, where he became instructor in natural and moral philosophy, and in that city was admitted to the priesthood. From 1778 to 1785 he was chaplain

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to the Neapolitan ambassador at the British court. His eloquent sermons attracted attention, but, shaken in his allegiance to the Roman Church in 1785, he went into retirement and two years later declared himself a Protestant. On June 27 he preached his first sermon as such in St. Peter's Church, Dublin, and was henceforth identified with the Church of Ireland. He never would, however, say anything against his former coreligionists. In 1788 he became rector of St. Nicholas-Without, Dublin, and held this place till his death, from 1800 in connection with the deanship of Killala, County Mayo. In 1798 he married and was survived by his wife and four children. He had great pulpit power, but is chiefly remembered for his sermons in behalf of charities, as he had remarkable ability in inducing persons to give. Of the thirteen sermons which were published by his widow (London, 1814, 2d ed., 1816, reprinted Philadelphia, 1816) eleven are charity sermons, and although the present reader can not give them their pristine attractiveness, they are interesting and moving discourses (one of them is reprinted in H. C. Fish's Masterpieces of Pulpit Eloquence, i. 581-592). In the British Museum are two volumes of his Latin theses, one on Biblical chronology and the other on the Decalogue (Louvain, 1775 and 1776).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: A sketch of his life, probably by his widow, is prefaced to his Sermons as above. Consult also DNB, xxxii. 230.