THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
nance of discipline and nurture of those committed to her care. By her brother she was led to the study of patristics, but was never reconciled to the Reformation, being a devoted daughter of her church. Her character was necessarily developed in a one-sided direction through her early entrance into the nunnery, and she was apparently quite morbid through continued contemplation of her sins and weaknesses. Her Denkwiirdigkeiten pictures the misfortunes of her cloister (given in C. Hofler's Frankischen Studien, vol. iv., part 2, Vienna, 1853).
Bibliography: F. Binder, Charitas Pirkheimer, Freiburg, 1873.
PIRKHEIMER, WILIBALD: German humanist; b. at Eichstatt (42 m. w.s.w. of Regensburg) Dec. 5, 1470; d. at Nuremberg Dec. 22, 1530. He received his elementary education from his father and then studied at the universities of Pavia and Padua the classics, music, and jurisprudence for seven years. He was city councilor at Nuremberg, 1496-1523; was entrusted with diplomatic charges by his city; and served in the war with the Swiss as imperial counselor to Maximilian I. and Charles V., as a result of which he wrote Historia belli Suitensis sive Helvetici (in Pirckheimeri opera politico,, pp. 63-92, Frankfort, 1610), which secured him the appellation of the German Xenophon. But Pirkheimer was famous for his versatile scholarship; he was identified with the revival in Germany of the humanities from Italy and shared the leadership with Erasmus and Reuchlin. He translated into Latin wholly or in part the works of Euclid, Xenophon, Plato, Ptolemy, Theophrastus, Plutarch, Lucian of Samosata, Gregory of Nazianzus, and John of Damascus, and possessed a large library gathered in the cities of Italy and freely thrown open to friends of learning.
Though in conflict with crystallized scholasticism, he was not inimical to the Church. However, he was a part of the movement which prepared the way for the coming division. At the beginning of the Reformation he took his position with Luther; called himself " a good Lutheran " in 1522; and for his Eckius dedolatus (ed. S. Szamatolski, 1891) and for a defensive polemic for Luther he drew upon himself a bull at the instigation of Johann Eck (q.v.) in 1521, but was absolved the same year. After 1524 he gradually fell away from Protestantism and turned more and more toward the Roman Catholic Church, mainly through his relation with the monastery of the Poor Clares (see Clare, Saint, and the Poor Clares) at Nuremberg the abbess of which (1503-32) was his famous sister Charitas (q.v.). When the innovators in that city, Hieronymus Ebner, Caspar Nutzel, and Lazarus Spengler, went so far in 1524 as to induce a voluntary abandonment of the monastery by the nuns, Pirkheimer's tender relation with his sister impelled him to advance to the defense. He appealed to Melanchthon through whose influence the abolition was stayed. His last work was in defense of the monastery, the Oratorio, Apologetica (1529; ed. G. J. Gretser, Opera omnia, xvii., Regensburg, 1734-41).
(F. LisTf.)
Bibliography: An incomplete edition of the Opera, ed. M. Goldast, was issued Frankfort, 1610, with the basal life by K. Rittershausen. Pirkheimer's " Autobiography " is given by K. Ruck in his Wilibald Pirclcheimer' s Schweizerkrieg, Munich, 1895. There are biographies by F. Roth, Halle, 1887; in ADB, xxxv. 118-122; and in E. Munch, Wilibald Pirkheimers Schweizerkrieg und Ehrenhandel rait seinen Feinden zu Niirnberg, Basel, 1826. Consult further: R. Hagen, Wilibald Pirkheimer in seinem Verhaltnis zum Humanismus und zur Reformation, Nuremberg, 1882; O. Markwart, Wilibald Pirkheimer als Geschichtschreiber, Zurich, 1886; P. Drews, Wilibald Pirkheimers Stellung zur Reformation, Leipsic, 1887; P. Kalkoff, Pirkheimers und Spenglers Lbsung vom Banne 1621, Breslau, 1896; H. Westermeyer, Zur Bannangelegenheit Pirkheimers und Spenglers, in Beitrage zur bayerischen Kirchengeschichte, ii. 1-8, Erlangen, 1896.
PIRMIN (PERMIN, PRIMIN), SAINT: Abbot and missionary in southern Germany; d. at the monastery of Hornbach (75 m. n.n.w. of Strasburg) Nov. 3, probably in 753. According to Rabanus Maurus (q.v.) he was a foreigner, and being a Benedictine, it is concluded that he was an Anglo-Saxon. He was first known as rural bishop of Meaux, where he preached in Latin and Frankish, during the reign of Theodoric IV- (720-737) and was called thence as missionary to the people about Lake Constance. There he first established the monastery of Reichenau on an island in the western arm of Lake Constance. When the Alemanni under Theobald rose against Charles Martel, Pirmin was compelled to leave his see, and repaired to Alsace, where, under Count Eberhard, he completed the monastery of Murbach in the Vosges. He is also said to have founded the religious houses of Altaich in Bavaria and Pfaefers in Switzerland, of Schuttern and Gengenbach in Offenburg, Schwartzach near Lichtenau in Baden, Maurmunster and Neuweiler in Alsace, and finally the abbey of Hornbach near Zweibriicken.
There still exists a document of Pirmin entitled Dicta abbatis Pirminii, de singulis libris canonicis scarapsus; first published by J. Mabillon in Vetera analecta, iv (Paris, 1723); ed. by A. Gallandi in Bibliotheca veterum patrum, xiii., pp. 277-285 (Venice, 1779); MPL, lxxxix. 1030 sqq. Scarapsus is evidently a corruption for e.rcerptus. These sayings written in barbarous Latin are directed to baptized Christians, offering instruction in faith and morals and supported by abundant Scripture citation. Man was created to fill the vacancy made by fallen angels. Satan is vanquished by the humility of the Son of God and sin by the cross. The vocation of the Christian is to follow Christ and shun evil. Of elementary sins there are eight: lust, gluttony, fornication, wrath, despair, recklessness, vainglory, and pride. He warns against the fleshly sins: divorce, which should not be permitted excepting with the consent of both parties and for the love of Christ; fornication, covetousness, untruthfulness, and sorcery. Actual sins are to be atoned for by almsgiving. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Early Vitas and other documents, with comment, are in ASB, Nov., ii., 1, pp. 2-54, and, ed. Holder- Egger, in MOH, Script., xv (1887-88), 21-35. Consult: M. Gorringer, Pirminius, Zweibriicken, 1841; P. Heber, Die vorkarolingischen christlichen Glaubenshelden am Rhein, pp. 212-248, Frankfort, 1858; J. H. A. Ebrard, Die iroschottische Missionskirche, pp. 344 sqq., 453 sqq., Guters- Ioh, 1873; J. Weicherding, Der St. Pirminsberg und