0/ his youth -e more. In 952 Otho I he Great call- ed him into the vicinity of his brother Bruno; and when he was elevated to the archbishopric of Cologne, Ratherius was made bishop of Liege. He proved, how- ever, very soon that the disappointments of life had tpld too -really upon his whole character to fit him any longer for .ureal responsibilities. He failed in all his undertakings, politically and ecclesiastically; and ihc discontenl in the see was so great and widespread ili.-u the emperor fell compelled to dispossess him. and retire htm to i he little abbey of Alna, a dependence of Lobach. Even here he made himself extremely un- popular by his overzealous defence of the sacramental views of Paschasius Radbertus. In 961, for the third time, the see of Verona was given to him, but the clergy of the
dlOCCSe Succeeded again in effecting his removal. Ill- was once more after ihis a monk at Lobach and abbot al Alna. lie died before he had secured the Abbey of i r which he strove finally as if an honor to be
coveted. He died al the house of the count ofNamur, April •-'.">, 974. His writings, which are numerous and
valuable, are collected i edition by P. ami II. Bal-
lerini (Verona, 1765). See Vogel, Ratherius von Vero- na (Jena, 1854,2 vols. 8vo); Lea. Hist, of Celibacy; Miosheim, Eccles. Hist. vol. ii, Gieseler, Eccles. Hist.; Ffoulkes, Divisions of Christendom, i. 7; Milman, Hist. Lat. Christianity, iii. 171, 172. (J. II. \\ .i
Rathmaim, Herrmann, a German theologian of the l'ieiistic tendency, was born at Lubeck in 1585;
.studied at Leipsic. Rostock, and last at Cologne, where he became magister of the philosophical faculty, and delivered philosophical lectures at Frankfort- on -the- Main and Leipsic until 1612, when he became dean of St. John's Church at Dantzic. In K'.IT h<- took a like position al St Mary'.-, in the same place, and in 1626 was mad.- pastor of St Catharine's. He died June 30, 1628. He got into a controversy with his zealous Lutheran colleague, John Corvinus (q. v. Re- garding Mysticism and Osiandrianism. Rathmann was a very devout man. and rejected the mere profession of faith as sufficient to entitle a person to Christian fellowship. He also distinguished between the mere letter of the Holy Word and iis inner meaning, regard- ing the former as a dead, fruitless instrument ("instru- mentum passivum, lumen instrumentale historicum"), which could only take life by the inspiring influence of i he Holy Spirit. The Kbnigsberg theologian- < Isl- ander scho.,1 1 accused him of Schwenkfeldianism ; those of Jena, of Calvinism ; only Rostock accepted his the- ology as orthodox. See Dorner, Gesch. der deutschen Theologie, p. 551 sip: Prank. Gesch. d. prof. Theol. i.:v>"> sq.; Nieduer. Zeitschr. f. hist. Theol. 1854, p. 43-181. (.J. II. W.i
Rath'umus (Pc&upoc. v. r. PaSvoc; Vulg. Rathi- mus), "the Btory-writer" (I Esdr. ii. 16, 17. 25, 30 i, the same as •• Rehum the chancellor" | Ezra i\ . 8, 9, 17. 23).
Ratich, Wolfgang, a distinguished German edu- cator, was horn in 1571, at Wilsten, in Holstein. A difficulty in speech compelled him to give up the min- istry, for which he had intended lilting himself; and he applied himself to the study of the Hebrew ami Arabic languages and mathematics. He claimed to he the in- ventor of a new system of instruction, vastly superior to the prevailing ones, and in 1612 addressed a memo- rial to the Diet of Frankfort, in which he asserted that not only could old and young in a short time easily learn Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, philosophy, the- ology, and the arts and sciences, but that uniformity of language and religion could be introduced into the whole empire. Several princes were lid to interest themselves in his scheme. Professors Iblw i^ and .lung. of G iessen, and Granger. Pre n del, Walter, and Wolf, of Jena, were invited to investigate it. Thej judged it excellent in theory, and made a favorable reporl upon it. Ratich agreed with prince Ludwig of Anhalt-Ko- then and duke John Ernest of Weimar to instruct children by his new system, and also by it to qualify teachers to give instruction in any language, iii lcs^, lime ami with less labor than by any other method
used in Germany. A printing-office was furnished him in Kotheii. and his books were printed in six lan- guages. A school was established for him. with one hundred and thirty-five scholars. But Ratich proved incompetent to give practical effect to his theories. lie became unpopular, and. being an earnest Lutheran, fell under the ban of the religious prejudices ot a com- munity attached to the Reformed faith. His failed in a shorl lime. Prince Ludwig quarrelled with him. and. in 1619, imprisoned him , but he was released in 1620, after having signed the declaration thai "he had claimed and promised more than he knew or could bring to pass." Hi- system was now at lacked by some who had been his friends. The COUnteSS Sophia vhii
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, however, recommended him to the Swedish chancellor, Oxenstiema. At the re- quest of thai statesman, I>rs. Bruckner, Meyfart, and Ziegler examined his method; and i hey again made a favorable reporl upon it in 1634. Ratich, without doubt, had a practical conception of the objects of ed- ucation, lb- preferred to give instruction in those branches which could he made useful in life rather than to pay so much attention to the dead languages. In his memorial to the Diet at Frankfort, he held that a child should lirsl learn to read and speak the inothir-