Angelus Silesius
German writer · Writers · Lived 1624 to 1677 · aged 53
Angelus Silesius, OFM, born Johann Scheffler, was a German Catholic priest, physician, mystic and religious poet.
Angelus Silesius is read about 146 times a day, in 32 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 10 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 112 days, one point a day.
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![Protestant authorities attacked and denounced Silesius in print for his Catholic and mystical beliefs, as with this caricature from the Wohlverdientes Kapitel (1664) depicting him as a peddler of potions, rosaries, gambling cards and dice, spectacles, and other immoral wares.[7]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Silesius_Caricature_1664.jpg/330px-Silesius_Caricature_1664.jpg)
Protestant authorities attacked and denounced Silesius in print for his Catholic and mystical beliefs, as with this caricature from the Wohlverdientes Kapitel (1664) depicting him as a peddler of potions, rosaries, gambling cards and dice, spectacles, and other immoral wares.[7]
Des Angelus Silesius Cherubinischer Wandersmann (1905)
Monument in WrocławAbout this person
Born and raised a Lutheran, he began to read the works of medieval mystics while studying in the Netherlands and became acquainted with the works of the German mystic Jacob Böhme through Böhme's friend Abraham von Franckenberg. Silesius's display of his mystic beliefs caused tension with Lutheran authorities and led to his eventual conversion to Catholicism in 1653, wherein he adopted the name Angelus and the epithet Silesius ("Silesian"). He entered the Franciscans and was ordained a priest in 1661. Ten years later, in 1671, he retired to a Jesuit house where he remained for the rest of his life.
