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Pyrker, Johann Ladislav of Felso-Eor

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Pyrlaeus, John Christopher

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a Roman Catholic prelate, and a poet of some talent, wmas born Nov. 2, 1772, at Lanigk. in Hungary. His father was the manager of an estate. John studied first at the gymnasium of Stuhlweissenburg and the academy of Funfkirchen, and then decided to enter the service of the State. His application for admission in the chief chancery at Oten having met with a refusal, he accepted a situation as private secretary in the house of a count at Palermo, but never performed these functions; for, while on his journey, in the spring of 1792, and on the point of passing over to Sicily, he suddenly changed his mind and returned. On his journey home he escaped an ambush of pirates, which circumstance gave origin to the tale that he was taken by pirates, sold at Algiers, and escaped to Genoa. The aspect of the South exercised an animating influence upon Pyrker's poetical talent. On his return through Venice and Vienna, he made the acquaintance of a former Cistercian monk, and applied for admission to that order. His request was granted at Lilienfeld (Lower Austria), Oct. 18, 1792. He studied theology at St. Palten, received holy orders in 1796, and subsequently exercised several monastical functions. In 1807 he became curate of Tirniz. In 1811 he was recalled to his monastery as prior, and in 1812 he was elected abbot of Lilienfeld. In 1818 he was appointed bishop of Zips, where he founded a seminary for country teachers. In 1820 he became patriarch of Venice, anii in the ensuing year primate of Dalmatia, chaplain of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, etc. In 1827 he was called to the archiepiscopal see of a Erlau, which post he held until his death, at Vienna, Dec. 2, 1847. Pyrker was a man of amiable manners, a cminscientious and courageous priest, a Meecenas to thie arts, a father to the poor, an ornament to science, and enjoyed general esteem and affection. His heart rests in the cathedral at Eriaum; his body, in conformity with his will, in a spot of the cemetery of Lilienfeld chosen by himself. His epitaph, chiselled on a simple slab of marble, is also of his own composition: Ossa I. L. Patr. Archiep. Agriensis requiescent in pace. Of his works, we consider it appropriate to mention here only Perlen deor heiligcen Vorzeit (Vienna, 1821; 2d ed. 1826): — Bildeir aus demn Leben Jesu und deri Apostel (Leips. 1842-43): — Legende der on eiligen (ibid. 1842). His complete works were published at Stuttgart (1832-34, 3 vols.; new ed. 1843). Severe critics miss in Pyrker's poems creative freshness and the charm of an original fancy; but they cannot deny the power and beauty of his poetical pictures, the pronounced relief of his characters, and his masterly management of the language and rhythm. See Ignaz Hub, Deutschlands Balladen- und Romanzen-Dichter (Carlsruhe, 1849, 2d ed.), p. 188; Winer, Handb. desr theol. Literatur, ii, 351, 718; but especially Bruhl, Gesch. der kathol. Literature, Deutschlands (Vieinna, 1861), p. 340 sq.