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Hedio, Gaspar or Caspar

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Hedinger, Johann Reinhard

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one of the early German Reformers, was born at Ettlingen, Baden, in 1494. He studied theology at Freiburg and Basle, where in 1519 he sustained, in presence of Capito, the theses afterwards printed under the title Conclusiones ex Evangelica Scriptura et veteri utriusque linguae theologia mutuatas disp. Caspar Iledio (1519, fol.). They are 24 in number, treating on the attributes of God and predestination, and evince a decided tendency towards the Reformation. In 1520 he began to correspond with Luther and Zwingle; in the same year he was called to Mentz on the recommendation of Capito, and was made court preacher and vicar to the archbishop. He resigned his offices in 1523, and retired to Strasburg. The chapter of that city offered him the pulpit of the cathedral, but the bishop refused to confirm the offer until Hedio had promised to confine himself to preaching the Word of God. His preaching was very popular, because it was simple and Biblical. He was naturally timid, and incapable of taking a leading part in the religious movement then going on; but his services as coadjutor to Bucer and Capito in consolidating the Reformation in Strasburg were very great. In 1551 he was sent, with Lenglin and Soll, to confer with the German theologians on the subject of the Confession of Faith. He died at Strasburg Oct. 17,1552. Among his writings are Chronicon Germanicum, oder Beschr. aller alten christl. Kirchen bis aufs Jahr 1545 (Strasb. 1530,3 vols. fol.): — Smaragdi abbatis Commentarii in Evangelia et Epistolas, which he translated himself into German: — Chronicon abbatis Urspergensis correctum, et Paralipomena addita ab anno 1230 ad ann. 1537, translated also into German by himself: — Sententinae Ph. Melanchthonis, Mart. Buceri, Gasp. Hedionis et aliorums de pace Ecclesiae, annl. 1534 (1607, 8vo). Melchior Adam considers him also as the translator of the histories of Eusebius, Hegesippus, and Josephus, and other works. See Melchior Adam, Vitae Germanorum Philosophorums (Heidelberg, 1615-1620, 4 vols. 8vo), 1, 116; Haag, La France Protestante; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gé neralé, 23, 718. (J. N. P.)