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Silesius Angelus or Johannes Scheffer, was a Convert, poet, controversialist, the son of a Lutheran Polish Nobleman, b. in Breslau in 1624; d. 9 July, 1677. He took the degree of doctor of philosophy and medicine, in Padua, in 1648, became court physician to the prince of Oels, in Silesia, was received into the Catholic Church in 1653, taking at confirmation the name of Angelus, to which he added the surname Silesius (Silesian), by which name he is known in the history of literature. In 1661, he was ordained priest and retired to the monastery of the Knights of the Cross in Breslau, where he died. His fortune he gave to pious and charitable institutions. With the Jesuits Spee and Balde, he was one of the few distinguished poets that Germany produced in an age of poetical barrenness and debased ...
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