Joseph Heinrich Gügler

Religiously inclined from childhood, he early desired to enter the clerical state, and after many entreaties his parents permitted him to begin his studies at the abbey school of Einsiedeln.

On 9 March 1805, he was ordained as a priest by Testa Ferrata, the papal legate, in which he was made canon of the collegiate church of St. Leodegar (Saint-Léger), retaining his position as professor of exegesis.

The methods of the new professors on how they taught students brought them into conflict, as well with the supporters of the old school, as with the followers of Ignaz Heinrich von Wessenberg and the "Illuminati" of Switzerland, they accused them of unchristian mysticism.

This was written to show the divine order of current events which are presented in grand pictures and prophetic visions.

A periodical founded by Gügler in 1823, Zeichen der Zeit im Guten und Bösen, was continued by Philipp Segesser.

Among Gügler's published works is a volume entitled Privatvorträge, lectures on the Gospel of St. John, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Christian doctrine of St. Augustine, together with a brief sketch of the sacred books of the Old Testament (Sarmenstorf, 1842).

Perhaps the last literary work of Gügler was a protest against the admission of non-Catholics to the Canton of Lucerne, as he wished to preserve for the people the inestimable boon of unity in faith.