WETZER, vet'zer, HEINRICH JOSEPH: Joint editor, with Welte, of the great Roman Catholic theological encyclopedia; b. at Anzefahr, Hessia, Mar. 19, 1801; d. in Freiburg (40 m. a. of Strasburg), Germany, Nov. 5, 1853. He studied theology at Marburg, also attending lectures on oriental philology, 1820-23, at Tübingen; and at Freiburg, 1824, where he obtained his doctorate; and, 1824-1825, he studied under De Sacy at Paris, where he discovered in the royal library a manuscript of the history of the Coptic Christians in Egypt, which he later translated and published. He became extraordinary professor of oriental philology in Freiburg University, 1828, and ordinary, 1830. He joined Van Ess in his translation of the Old Testament, Sulzbach, 1840. In 1846 he began the issue of the Kirchenlexikon (see this work, vol. i., p. xv.), with which his name and that of the coeditor, Benedikt Welte, are indissolubly connected. Wetzer put all his time, strength, and learning at the disposal of the work. The encyclopedia was authoritative, fair-minded, and impartial to a singular degree. He was the author of Restitutio verse chronologite rerum ex controversiis Arianis irede ab anno 825 usque ad annum 350 exhortarum contra chronologiam hodie receptam exhibits (Frankfort, 1827).

Bibliography: KL, xii. 1418-1421.

WEYERMUELLER, vai'er-mul"er, FRIEDRICH: German Lutheran hymnist; b. at Niederbronn (26 m. n.w. of Strasburg) Sept. 21, 1810; d. there May 24, 1877. He received his education at the school of his native town and at the hands of the pastor, gaining an excellent knowledge of German poetry. He began early to compose, and from 1838 dedicated

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his talent to the service of God and his Church, though some of his poems were polemical and had reference to the controversies of the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1852 he became an asso ciate of the conaistory of Niederbronn, and his efforts greatly aided the cause of Lutheranism, he being a strong and strict follower of that type of religious activity and thought. His poems reflected this tendency, and were often aimed against Baptists, liberals, and the like. Those which were adapted to worship found entrance over a wide range of church hymnals.

(A. Lienhard.)

Bibliography: W. Horning, Lebenabild von F. T. Horn ing, pp. 326-341, 4th ed., Strasburg, 1885; Evangeliach Eutlerischer FriedensboEe, 1877. nos. 52-54.