■Wetzel (or Wezel), Johann Kaspar, a learned German writer, was born at ^leiningen, Feb. 22, 1G91, as the son of a poor shoemaker. He was educated at the expense of Bernard, the duke of Saxe-Meiningen, at Halle and Jena. After teaching awhile, he became sec- retary to a diplomate, and in that capacity visited Italy and Switzerland. He eventually taught again private- ly, and finally became preacher of the duchess-dowager
(1724) and at Komhild (1728), where he died, Aug. G, 1755, leaving several works, of which we mention, llyin- nopceogniphia, oder hist. Lebensheschreibun;/ der berUhm- testen Liederdirhter ( Herrnstadt, 1719-28, 4 pts.) :— Hymnolof/ia Siicni (Nurcmb. 1728) : — IJ^innolof/ia Pas- siomdis (ibid. 1733) : — llymnoloyia Polemica (Arnstadt, 1735) : — A nalecta Hipnnica, oder vierkwiirdige Nachlesen zur Liederhistorie (Gotha, 1751-55,2 vols.). See Do- ring, Die (/elehrten Theologen Deutschlands, iv, 712 sij. : Hoefer. Nouv. Biog. Generule, s. v. (B. P.)
Wetzer, HiiiNRicn Josicph, chief editor of the Kn- ci/clojuedia of Roman Catholic Theology, was bom in 1801 at Anzefahr, in Electoral Hesse. His early in- struction was obtained of pastor Kaiser, at Niederklein ; thence he went to the Paxlagogium, and subsequently (1820) to the University of Marburg. Under Arnold's and Hartmann's tuition, he devoted himself especially to the study of the Hebrew and Arabic languages. In 1823 he was at Tubingen, engaged in the study of Ori- ental languages, and in 1824 he received at Freiburg the doctorate of theologj' and canon law. He then vis- ited Paris, and prosecuted the study of Arabic and Persian under De Sacy, and of Syriac under Quatremere. While in Paris he published from an Arabic manuscript The History of the Coptic Christians down to the \Ath Century (1828), as written bj' a learned imaum of Egypt, accompanying the Arabic text with a Latin version. He had already published A Latin Ti-eatise on the Ari- an Controversy, A.I). 325-350 (1827). In 1828 he be- came tutor and extraordinary professor, and in 1830 or- dinary professor, of Oriental philologj' at Freiburg. In 1831 he married. He delivered interesting lectures on the grammar of the Hebrew and Arabic languages, and on tlie interpretation of Scri|)ture and introduction to the Old Test., etc. In 1840 he published, in connection with L. Van Ess, the Sulzbach edition of the Bible. In the internal disputes which agitated the University of Freiburg, he lield strictly Roman Catholic grouncl. When in 1844 a motion was made in the Chambers of Baden to discontinue that institution of learning, he wrote an essay advocating its preservation. His prin- cipal importance, however, grows out of the assent he gave to the plan of publishing a cyclopaedia of Roman Catholic theology, as conceived by the bookseller Her- der. He was given the direction of the work, and in- dustriously prosecuted it from 184G until his death, in November, 1853. Tiie work is thorougly Roman Cath- olic in tone and spirit, and has doubtless contributed greatly towards fixing the tendency of that theology of late years in Germany. Its treatment of Protestantism, the institutions growing out of it, and the men connect- ed with it is naturally biassed ; but its polemics are never bitter or extreme. Significant are the brevity and su- perficial treatment accorded to Sailer (q. v.), and curious the mildness which Fenelon's mystical quietism receives in the article "Bossuet." The immaculate conception of the Virgin is not at all approved of, though it was not yet a dogma of the Church when the Encyclopcedia ap- peared. The entire work, including Supplement, consists of 12 volumes (1847-185G). A complete Index facili- tates its use. A new edition is at this writing (1881) in course of publication. — Herzog, Real-EncyMop. s. v.
"Wexford, Council of (Concilium Wexfordiense). Wexford is a seaport town of Ireland, capital of Wex- ford County, on the right bank of the Slaney, where it expands into a harbor, sixty-four miles south-west of Dublin. An ecclesiastical coimcil was held here in 1240 by the bishop of Ferns, in which it was ruled how the debts of deceased curates should be paid. Clerks were forbidden to follow any kind of secular business. The infringers of ecclesiastical liberties, intruders into bene- fices, incendiaries, poisoners, false witnesses, etc., were excommunicated. Curates were forbidden to excom- municate their parishioners without the bishop's sanc- tion. See Wilkins, Cone. i. G81 ; 3Iansi, Cuvril. (suppl.), ii, 1065. — Landon, Manual <f Councils, p. 691.
WEZEL
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WHALE
"Wezel. See Wktzei..