Molkenbuhr, Marcellin, a German Eoman Catliolic theologian, was born at Minister, Sept. 1, 1741, and was educated in the convents of the Rhenish coun- try. In 1758 he entered the Order of St. Francis at Hanau, but was ordained to holy orders Oct. 27, 1764, and for nine years taught philosophy and mathematics, and for twelve years divinity and moral theology at Pad- erborn. He then retired to the convent of St. Francis at Minister ; but in 1811, when it was abolished, lie lived for a while privately. In 1815 he re-entered monastic life in tlie convent of St. Francis at Paderborn, and died there iu 1831. Some of his most important works are: Das Zeitulter der Vernunft herausgegeb&i von Thomas Paine, widerlegt, etc. (Paderborn, 1797, 2d edition; Minister, 1802): — Neue Auslegungsart des alten Testaments von Wecklein, Prof, zu Miinster, widerlegt (Dorsten, 1806) : — Neue der GottheitJesu nachtheilige A uslegung des I Capi- iel des Evangel. Jok. von Muth, Prof, in Erfurt, widfi-legt (ibid. 1807) : — Wo ist die dlteste und vornehmrste hischOfli- che Kirche in derganzen Christenheit ? Bei den Griechen oder bei den Lateinern? (Paderborn, 1815) : — Ueher die Ankunfl des hi. Apostel Petrus nach Rom und Antio- chia, und einige vorgehliche alte Streitigkeiten mehrei-er Bischofe wider die Pdpste (ibid. 1816) : — Anmerkungen iiher die neuen deutschen Uehersetzungen des N. T. durch Carl und Leander van Esz, auch besonders iiber den be- straften Cephas (ibid. 1817) : — Ilistoria religionis Chris- tiancB in compendio et ordine chronico exhibita, tom. i, ab anno 1-326 (ibid. 1818). See Waitzenegger, Gelehr- ten- laid Schrifhteller Lexikon der deutschen katholischen Geistlichkeit, ii, 18 sq.
Mollah (Arab, maula, Turk, meida, i. e. ruler) is the name of a Turkish superior judge, who is an ex- pounder of civil and criminal law, and of the religion of the state ; he is therefore necessarily both a lawyer anil an ecclesiastic. Under him is the cadi or judge, who administers the law, and superior to him are the kadhiasker and the mufti (q. v.). They all are, how- ever, subject to the Sheik al-lslam, or supreme mufti. In Persia, the office of mollah is similar to what it is in Turkey ; but his superior there is the " sadr," or chief of the mollahs. In the states of Turkestan, the mol- lahs have the whole government in their hands. — Cham- bers, Cyclop, s. v. See Mullah,
Moller, Heinrich, popularly known as Henry von Ziitpken, one of the early Protestant martyrs, was
born in 1488, in the county of Ziitphen, in the Nether- lands. In 1504 he joined the Augustinians, and in 1515 went to the then newly-established University of Wit- tenberg. Here he became intimate with Luther. In 1516, on his return home, he was, notwithstanding his youth, made prior of the Augustinian convent of Dort, but was finally obliged to leave it iu 1520 on account of his reformatory opinions, went to Antwerp, and there became sub-prior of the Augustinian convent. This place also he was obliged to leave in December, 1520, his favorable opinion of the Reformers having made him many enemies in the body, and in March, 1521, we find him back at Wittenberg, occupied in studies. But when, in consequence of the Edict of Worms, the evan- gelical party began to be persecuted in the Nether- lands, he returned, in 1522, to Dort and to Antwerp, and there by his example encouraged the Augustinians to spread the principles of the Reformation. The In- quisition quickly recognised in him a leading spirit, and he was marked as one whose head should fall. Ou Sept. 29 he was arrested, but the people rallied and re- leased him. Satisfied that safety could be found only in flight, he then bade adieu to his Christian friends, and went successively to Amsterdam and Ziitphen, with the expectation of making his way back to Wittenberg. But he was stopped in Bremen, and entreated by the people to stay there and preach the new doctrines. Con- senting, after much urgent solicitation, he was made pastor, and by his preaching soon gained the greater portion of the people to the cause of the Reformation. In November, 1524, when his friends felt satisfied that the cause had been so efficiently served as to make a falling away to Romanism well-nigh impossible, he left for Meldorf, in Denmark, where he was desired to introduce the Reformation. He encountered great opposition, and, though the authorities of tlie place were in his favor, he was seized on the 10th of Decem- ber by the Roman Catholic clergy and their dupes, and burned the next day as a heretic. The news as it reached the different German Reformers caused great sorrow. The loss sustained seemed irreparable. Me- lancthon wrote a hymn of praise over him, Luther a let- ter of sympath}' to the Christians of Bremen, and an ac- count of his martyrdom. In the cemetery of Meldorf, where iNIolIer's remains had been deposited after a se- vere struggle with the drunken rowdies who, fired by religious fanaticism, had caused his death, a monument was erected to his memory, June 25, 1830. See Luther, Vom Bruder Heinrich, etc., in Werke, vol. xxvi (Er- langen edition) ; Heckel, Die Mdrtyrer in d. evangel. Kirche, edited by Wichern (Hamb. 1845 and 1849); Rudelbach, Christliche Biographic (Leips. 1849) ; Flied- ner, Buch. d. Mdrtyrer, vol. ii ; Schlegel, Kirchen u. Reformationsgesch. v. Norddeutschland, vol. ii; Ranke, Deutsche Gesch. im Zeitalter d. Reform, vols, i and ii ; Hist, of the Reformation (Austin's transl. Phila. 1844, 8vo) , bk. i ; Motley, John ofBameveld (N. Y. 1874), i, 283 sq. ; Zeitschr.f. hist, theol. 1868, p. 485; Pierer, Univer- sal-Lexikon, xi,367; Hevzog, Real-Encyklopddie, ix,704. (J.H.W.)