Martin Eisengrein

Martin Eisengrein (28 December 1535 – 4 May 1578) was a German Catholic theologian, university professor, and polemical writer.

He studied the humanities at the Latin school of Stuttgart, and the liberal arts and philosophy at the University of Tübingen.

[1] During the tolerant rule of Ferdinand I, Eisengrein, though still a Protestant, became in 1555 professor of oratory and, two years later, of physics at the University of Vienna, a Catholic institution.

"[I]n his sermons, printed works, and pastoral ministrations Eisengrein strove to resurrect and reform the religious life of Bavaria's shrines.

"[2] Besides being professor, he devoted much of his time to the study of theology and, after receiving the degree of licentiate in this science on 11 November 1563, he began to teach it in January, 1564.

In 1563 and 1564 he took part in the politico-religious conferences at the imperial court of Vienna; in 1566 Duke Albert sent him to Pope Pius V to advocate the appointment of Prince Ernest as Prince-Bishop of Freising.

[1] In 1568 and 1569 Eisengrein worked in Vienna as the court preacher of Emperor Maximilian II, before returning to Ingolstadt in 1570.

In 1568 Eisengrein and Peter Canisius had peacefully settled certain differences between the two factions, but when in 1571 Duke Albert decided to put the pœdagogium and the philosophical course into the hands of the Jesuits, the other professors loudly protested.

Soon, however, hostilities began anew, and in order to put an end to these quarrels, the Jesuits transferred the Pœdagogium and philosophical course to Munich in 1573.

Eisengrein appears at all stages of his life as a true personality distinguished by wisdom and moral purity.