Johann Michael Sailer

Johann Michael Sailer (1751 to 1832) was a German Jesuit-trained Catholic theologian, philosopher and teacher who ended his career as Bishop of Regensburg, and a major contributor to the Catholic Enlightenment. Born at Aresing in Upper Bavaria, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1770 and, after its suppression, finished his studies at Ingolstadt and was ordained priest in 1775. He taught at Ingolstadt, then from 1784 held the chair of pastoral theology and ethics at Dillingen for ten years, until opponents secured his dismissal, and from 1800 taught pastoral and moral theology, pedagogics, homiletics, liturgy and catechetics at Landshut. Celebrated as a teacher and writer, he was revered by his pupils, who included the future King Louis I of Bavaria. In an age when many thought education overemphasised intellect, he held that education should train both mind and will, and he sought a faith expressed in charity and the training of a pious and intelligent clergy. He became cathedral canon of Regensburg in 1821 and its bishop in 1829, and his collected works run to some forty volumes.