The Most Influential People Across History
Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines
Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.
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List of the most influential people in Religious Studies,
#5851
William Nicholls
1664 - 1712 (48 years)
William Nicholls was an English clergyman and theologian, known as an author on the Book of Common Prayer. Life He was the son of John Nicholls of Donington, now Dunton, Buckinghamshire. He was educated at St Paul's School under Thomas Gale, and went up with an exhibition to Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he matriculated as a commoner on 26 March 1680. He later migrated to Wadham College, and graduated B.A. on 27 November 1683. On 6 October 1684 he was chosen a probationary fellow of Merton College, and proceeded M.A. 19 June 1688, B.D. 2 July 1692, and D.D. 29 November 1695.
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Pope Nicholas II
990 - 1061 (71 years)
Pope Nicholas II , otherwise known as Gerard of Burgundy, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 January 1059 until his death in 27 July 1061. At the time of his election, he was bishop of Florence. During his Papacy, Nicholas II successfully expanded the influence of the papacy in Milan and southern Italy. He was also responsible for passing papal election reforms.
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Joseph Ruggles Wilson
1822 - 1903 (81 years)
Joseph Ruggles Wilson Sr. was a prominent Presbyterian theologian and father of President Woodrow Wilson, Nashville Banner editor Joseph Ruggles Wilson Jr., and Anne E. Wilson Howe. In 1861, as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia, he organized the General Assembly of the newly formed Presbyterian Church in the United States, known as the Southern Presbyterian Church, and served as its clerk for thirty-seven years.
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Harold C. Case
1902 - 1972 (70 years)
Harold Claude Case was an American academic administrator and Methodist preacher. He served as president of Boston University from 1951 to 1967 and was later named acting president of Whittier College.
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Étienne Dumont
1759 - 1829 (70 years)
Pierre Étienne Louis Dumont , sometimes anglicised as Stephen Dumont, was a Swiss French political writer. He is chiefly remembered as the French editor of the writings of the English philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham.
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Gustaaf Adolf van den Bergh van Eysinga
1874 - 1957 (83 years)
Gustaaf Adolf van den Bergh van Eysinga was a Dutch theologian. From 1936 to 1944 he was professor in New Testament exegesis at the University of Amsterdam. He belonged to the Dutch school of Radical Criticism. Bergh van Eysinga was an advocate of the Christ myth theory.
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Peder Madsen
1843 - 1911 (68 years)
Peder Madsen was a Danish theologian and Bishop of the Diocese of Zealand from 1909 until his death in 1911. Prior to being ordained as a bishop, he had been a professor and the rector of the University of Copenhagen.
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Walter A. Maier
1893 - 1950 (57 years)
Walter Arthur Maier was a noted radio personality, public speaker, prolific author, university professor, scholar of ancient Semitic languages and culture, Lutheran theologian and editor. He is best known as the speaker for The Lutheran Hour radio broadcast from 1930 to 1950.
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Fulcran Vigouroux
1837 - 1915 (78 years)
Fulcran Grégoire Vigouroux , was a French Catholic priest and scholar, biblical theologian, apologist, and the first secretary of the Pontificial Commission . Vigouroux defended the historicity of the Bible.
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Pedro Abarca
1619 - 1697 (78 years)
Pedro Abarca was a Jesuit theologian. Life Born in Aragon, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1641, and passed almost all his religious life as professor of scholastic, moral, and controversial theology, chiefly in the University of Salamanca. He died at Palencia.
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John Gordon Davies
1919 - 1990 (71 years)
John Gordon Davies was Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham. He was educated at King's School , Christ Church and Westcott House . He worked in the dockland parish of Rotherhithe before joining the University of Birmingham, and he was also Director of the Institute for the Study of Worship and Religious Architecture in the University.
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J. H. Oldham
1874 - 1969 (95 years)
Joseph Houldsworth Oldham CBE , known as J. H. or Joe, was a Scottish missionary in India, who became a significant figure in Christian ecumenism, though never ordained in the United Free Church as he had wished.
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Florentine Bechtel
1857 - 1933 (76 years)
The Reverend Florentine Stanislaus Bechtel, S.J., was a French-born American Biblical scholar. Biography Florentine Stanislaus Bechtel was born in Haguenau, Alsace on February 4, 1857. He was educated at the College of Providence in Amiens. He entered the Jesuits in 1874 in his native France and was sent to serve the Jesuit missions in the Midwestern United States and studied theology at the former Jesuit St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant, Missouri. He taught Hebrew and Sacred Scripture at St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, and was a contributor to the Catholic Encyclopedia articl...
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Johann Jakob Hottinger
1652 - 1735 (83 years)
Johann Jakob Hottinger was a Swiss theologian. Biography He was born in Zürich, the son of the Swiss philologist and theologian Johann Heinrich Hottinger. He studied theology at the Carolinum in Zürich, and also in Basel and Geneva. In 1676 he received his ordination, then in 1680 became a pastor in Stallikon. In 1686 he was named deacon at the Grossmünster in Zürich, where in 1698 he succeeded Johann Heinrich Heidegger as professor of theology. He died in Zürich, aged 83.
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Thomas Burnet
1635 - 1715 (80 years)
Thomas Burnet was an English theologian and writer on cosmogony. Life He was born at Croft near Darlington in 1635. After studying at Northallerton Grammar School under Thomas Smelt, he went to Clare College, Cambridge in 1651. There he was a pupil of John Tillotson. Ralph Cudworth, the Master of Clare, moved to Christ's College, Cambridge in 1654, and Burnet followed him. He became fellow of Christ's in 1657, M.A. in 1658, and was proctor in 1667.
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Robert Lawrence Ottley
1856 - 1933 (77 years)
Robert Lawrence Ottley was an English theologian. Life He was the son of Lawrence Ottley, Canon of Ripon. He was born in Richmond, Yorkshire, and was educated by his sister Alice Ottley and at King's School, Canterbury. The rest of his academic career up to 1933 was spent at Oxford. His undergraduate studies took place at Pembroke College, of which he became an Honorary Fellow in 1905. He was tutor at Christ Church in 1881, and Principal of Cuddesdon Theological College from 1886. In 1890 he became Divinity Dean at Magdalen College. Then, in 1893 he became Principal of Pusey House. During 1...
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John Macleod Campbell Crum
1872 - 1958 (86 years)
The Rev. Canon John Macleod Campbell Crum was an Anglican priest, author and hymnwriter. Family and education Crum was born at Mere Old Hall near Knutsford, Cheshire, to William Graham Crum, a calico printer, and Jean Campbell, who were both of Scottish origin. The family later lived at Broxton Old Hall, also in Cheshire. His grandfathers were the chemist Walter Crum and the theologian John McLeod Campbell.
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Bartholomaeus Arnoldi
1465 - 1532 (67 years)
Bartholomaeus Arnoldi was an Augustinian friar and doctor of divinity who taught Martin Luther and later turned into his earliest and one of his personally closest opponents. Life Usually called Usingen, after his birthplace, Arnoldi received his master's degree in 1491 and was promoted to the doctorate of divinity in 1514. For thirty years he filled the chairs of philosophy and theology at Erfurt University, and, with Jodocus Trutfetter, was its leading teacher. He enjoyed the favour of the younger humanists.
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William Gurnall
1617 - 1679 (62 years)
William Gurnall was an English author and Anglican clergyman born at King's Lynn, Norfolk, where he was baptised on 17 November 1616. He was educated at the free grammar school of his native town, and in 1631 was nominated to the Lynn scholarship in Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1635 and MA in 1639. He was made rector of St Peter and St Paul's Church, Lavenham in Suffolk in 1644; and before he received that appointment he seems to have officiated, perhaps as curate, at Sudbury.
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Thomas Cartwright
1535 - 1603 (68 years)
Thomas Cartwright was an English Puritan preacher and theologian. Background and education Cartwright was probably born in Royston, Hertfordshire, and studied divinity at St John's College, Cambridge. On the accession of Queen Mary I of England in 1553, he was forced to leave the university, and found occupation as clerk to a counsellor-at-law. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth I, five years later, he resumed his theological studies, and was soon afterwards elected a fellow of St John's and later of Trinity College, Cambridge.
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Johann Michael Reu
1869 - 1943 (74 years)
Johann Michael Reu was a German - American Lutheran theologian, author and educator. Johann Michael Reu was born at Diebach, in Bavaria, Germany. He was the youngest of ten children. His father died when Reu was only two years old. Reu studied from 1887 to 1889 at the nearby Neuendettelsau Mission Institute which had been founded by Wilhelm Loehe in 1841.
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Arsenie Boca
1910 - 1989 (79 years)
Arsenie Boca was a Romanian priest, theologian, mystic, and artist. He was persecuted by the Romanian Communist Party. Born in Vața de Sus, Hunedoara County, he died at Sinaia Monastery and was buried at in Silvașu de Sus village. In a poll of the Romanian public conducted by Romanian Television in 2006, Boca was voted 79th among 100 Greatest Romanians.
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Guillaume-André-Réné Baston
1741 - 1825 (84 years)
Guillaume-André-René Baston was a French theologian. Life He studied theology at St. Sulpice in Paris and finished his studies at Angers. He was then appointed professor of theology at Rouen. During the French Revolution he wrote against the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Having refused to take the oath, he was obliged to go into exile , first to London, then to Holland, and finally to Coesfeld in Westphalia. In 1803 he returned to Rouen, where he was appointed vicar-general and dean of the chapter by Archbishop Cambacérès. As a Gallican, he won the favor of Napoleon, who appointed him Bishop of Séez , and the chapter of the cathedral accepted him as capitular vicar.
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Caelestius
380 - 500 (120 years)
Caelestius was the major follower of the Christian teacher Pelagius and the Christian doctrine of Pelagianism, which was opposed to Augustine of Hippo and his doctrine in original sin, and was later declared to be heresy.
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Charles de Condren
1588 - 1641 (53 years)
Charles de Condren, Cong. Orat., a Doctor of the Sorbonne , was a French mystic of the 17th century, and is considered a leading member of the French School of Spirituality. Early life Condren was born on 15 December 1588 in Vauxbuin, near Soissons. His father, governor of the royal castle of Piles near Meaux, had converted from Protestantism to Catholicism. He sought to instill in his son an attraction for military life, and had the boy outfitted with a military uniform when still very young. Charles was tutored by M. le Masson, a canon of Soissons, and displayed a remarkable memory even at a...
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Robert Lightfoot
1883 - 1953 (70 years)
Robert Henry Lightfoot was an Anglican priest and theologian, who was Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1934 to 1949. Life Lightfoot was the youngest son of Prideaux Lightfoot, Archdeacon of Oakham, and grandson of a former Rector of Exeter College, Oxford. He was born on 30 September 1883 and was educated at Uppingham School and Eton College before studying classics and then theology at Worcester College, Oxford. He was advised that he was not good enough to obtain an academic job, so became curate of a parish in Haslemere in 1909. ...
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Johannes Alberti
1698 - 1762 (64 years)
Johannes Alberti was a Dutch theologian. Early life Alberti was the son of a flour miller. He did not regularly attend school due to the distance between his parents' house and the local school. However, the miller's apprentice, Jan Mulder, taught the boy to read. He made good progress, and soon the teacher took his student with him to the church. To his amazement, he noticed that the boy kept his attention on the pulpit. When Alberti returned home, his mother asked him if he remembered anything that had been said. He stood upon a wooden crate in the living room, recited the text of the sermon, and declaimed parts of it with such simplicity that his mother had tears in her eyes.
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Hans Lietzmann
1875 - 1942 (67 years)
Hans Lietzmann was a German Protestant theologian and church historian who was a native of Düsseldorf. He initially studied in Jena, then continued his education in Bonn, where he was a student of Hermann Usener. In 1905 he was appointed professor of church history at the University of Jena, and in 1923 was a successor to Adolf von Harnack at the University of Berlin. During his career he obtained an honorary doctorate from the University of Athens, and in 1927 became a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. He died in Locarno, Switzerland on 25 June 1942.
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Robert Baron
1596 - 1639 (43 years)
Robert Baron was a Scottish theologian and one of the so-called Aberdeen doctors. He is commemorated in the Calendar of saints of the Scottish Episcopal Church on 28 March. Life Born in 1596 at Kinnaird, Gowrie, he was the younger son of John Baron of Kinnaird. After graduating from the University of St Andrews in 1613, he became a teacher of Philosophy there until, in 1619, he entered the ministry and took charge of parish of Keith. In the latter charge his predecessor had been the famous Patrick Forbes.
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Marie Huber
1695 - 1753 (58 years)
Marie Huber was a Genevan writer on theology and related subjects, as well as a translator and editor, at a time when it was rare for a female writer to write about theology. Huber was a proponent of universalism, and was considered by some a deist. Her Letters Concerning the Religion Essential to Man are known to have been read, in translation, by Robert Burns.
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Thomas Treadwell Stone
1801 - 1895 (94 years)
Thomas Treadwell Stone was an American Unitarian pastor, abolitionist, and Transcendentalist. Life and work Thomas Treadwell Stone was born on February 9, 1801, in Waterford, Maine to Solomon Stone and Hepzibah Treadwell Stone. His maternal grandfather, Thomas Treadwell, served with the Minutemen and was at the battle of Bunker Hill with Colonel William Prescott's regiment. At that time Waterford was an area of new and sparsely populated farmland, and Solomon Stone made his living as a farmer. Thomas attended Bridgton Academy and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1820.
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Louis Tronchin
1629 - 1705 (76 years)
Louis Tronchin was a Genevan Calvinist theologian and the son of Théodore Tronchin. Life He studied at the Protestant Academy of Saumur under Moses Amyraut, whose "hypothetical universalism" had been vehemently contested by Tronchin the elder; he became pastor of the congregation of Lyons in 1656; and professor of theology at the Genevan Academy in 1661, in which position he represented the liberal trend and advocated tolerance. In 1669 he demanded the abolition of the oath that was imposed on all candidates [in theology], not to attempt any innovations in the Calvinist doctrine.
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Gábor Szeremlei
1807 - 1867 (60 years)
Gábor Szeremlei was a Hungarian Protestant theologian, professor and doctor of philosophy. Life Szeremlei was born in 1807 in Disznóshorvát , Borsod county. His mother was the Czech-born Anna Hofman, His father was Sámuel Szeremlei Császár . The exact date of his birth is unknown, because his birth wasn't registered in the baptismal birth register. The birth year is sure, because he was born after his father arrived to Disznóshorvát, and in 1808 a younger brother's name was registered in Disznóshorvát.
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Jacques Almain
1480 - 1515 (35 years)
Jacques Almain was a French professor of theology at the University of Paris who died at an early age. Born in the diocese of Sens, he studied Arts at the Collège de Montaigu of the University of Paris. He served as Rector of the University from December 1507 to March 1508.
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George Harris
1844 - 1922 (78 years)
George Harris Jr. was an American minister, academic, and college president. Early life and education He was born at East Machias, Maine to George Harris Sr. and Mary Ann Palmer. He attended Washington Academy and graduated from Amherst College in 1866 and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1869. He received the D.D. degree from Harvard, Yale and Amherst, and the LL.D. degree from Dartmouth and Williams.
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John Trevisa
1342 - 1402 (60 years)
John Trevisa was a Cornish writer and professional translator. Trevisa was born at Trevessa in the parish of St Enoder in mid-Cornwall, in Britain and was a native Cornish speaker. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, and became Vicar of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, chaplain to the 5th Lord Berkeley, and Canon of Westbury on Trym.
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Norman F. Douty
1899 - 1993 (94 years)
Norman Franklin Douty was a Christian author and pastor. Biography Douty was born in Central Pennsylvania on January 14, 1899. He came to faith in 1910 and was licensed to preach in 1919. After graduating from seminary, he served as a pastor in several churches before taking up an itinerant ministry throughout the USA.
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Johann Traugott Leberecht Danz
1769 - 1851 (82 years)
Johann Traugott Leberecht Danz was a German Lutheran theologian and church historian born in Weimar. In 1787 he began his studies at Jena, where he had as instructors, Johann Jakob Griesbach, Johann Christoph Döderlein and Johann Gottfried Eichhorn. In 1791 he continued his studies at the University of Göttingen, and afterwards returned to Weimar as a secondary school teacher. In 1809 he received his habilitation at Jena, and during the following year became an associate professor. From 1812 to 1838 he was a full professor of theology at the University of Jena.
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Daniel Waterland
1683 - 1740 (57 years)
Daniel Waterland was an English theologian. He became Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1714, Chancellor of the Diocese of York in 1722, and Archdeacon of Middlesex in 1730. Waterland opposed the latitudinarians of his time. He was an acute controversialist on behalf of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, on which he wrote several treatises. He was also the author of a History of the Athanasian Creed .
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Sylvester Mazzolini
1456 - 1523 (67 years)
Sylvester Mazzolini, in Italian Silvestro Mazzolini da Prierio, in Latin Sylvester Prierias , was a theologian born at Priero, Piedmont; he died at Rome. Prierias perished when the imperial troops forced their way into the city, leading to the Sack of Rome.
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Alanus de Rupe
1428 - 1475 (47 years)
Alanus de Rupe ; was a Roman Catholic theologian noted for his views on prayer. Some writers claim him as a native of Germany, others of Belgium; but his disciple, Cornelius Sneek, says that he was born in Brittany. He died at Zwolle.
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Jan Jacob van Oosterzee
1817 - 1882 (65 years)
Jan Jacob van Oosterzee , Dutch divine, was born at Rotterdam. He was educated at the University of Utrecht 1835–1839. He was also known as Jan Jakob van Oosterzee, JJ van Oosterzee, or Johannes Jacobus van Oosterzee.
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Friedrich Loofs
1858 - 1928 (70 years)
Friedrich Loofs was a German theologian and church historian best remembered for his studies involving the history of dogma. Biography Loofs studied theology at the universities of Leipzig, Tübingen, and Göttingen, and received his doctorate from Leipzig in 1881. As a student, Adolf von Harnack and Albrecht Ritschl were important influences to his career. From 1888 to 1926 he was a professor of church history at the University of Halle, where in 1907/08 he served as rector. Concurrent with his work at the university, from 1890 to 1925, he held title of Consistorialrat in the city of Magdebu...
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Gottlieb Nathaniel Bonwetsch
1848 - 1925 (77 years)
Gottlieb Nathanael Bonwetsch was a Russian-born German Protestant theologian. He was born in Norka, Saratov province in Russia, where his father was pastor. He studied theology in Dorpat, then later in Göttingen and Bonn. In 1878 he published a treatise on the writings of Tertullian, titled Die Schriften Tertullians, nach der Zeit ihrer Abfassung untersucht. In 1881 obtained his doctorate in theology and his first academic position was at Dorpat . He became a full professor of church history at the University of Göttingen in 1891.
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Gotthard Victor Lechler
1811 - 1888 (77 years)
Gotthard Victor Lechler , German Lutheran theologian, was born at Kloster Reichenbach in Württemberg. Biography He studied at the University of Tübingen under Ferdinand Christian Baur, and later on, served as a deacon in the towns of Waiblingen and Knittlingen. In 1858 he became a pastor at the church of St Thomas and professor ordinarius of historical theology at the University of Leipzig.
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Johann Ludwig von Wolzogen
1599 - 1658 (59 years)
Johann Ludwig von Wolzogen was an Austrian nobleman and Socinian theologian. Wolzogen was born in Nové Zámky , known then as Neuhäusel in German and Érsekújvár in Hungarian. He inherited the titles of Baron of Tarenfeldt and Freiherr of Neuhäusel.
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Saint Ursula
400 - 385 (-15 years)
Ursula is a legendary Romano-British Christian saint. Her feast day in the pre-1970 Calendarium Romanum Generale is 21 October. There is little information about her and the anonymous group of holy virgins who accompanied and, on an uncertain date, were killed along with her at Cologne. They remain in the Roman Martyrology, although their commemoration does not appear in the simplified General Roman Calendar of the 1970 Missale Romanum.
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Jacob Anton Zallinger zum Thurn
1735 - 1813 (78 years)
Jacob Anton Zallinger zum Thurn was a philosopher and canonist . Biography Zallinger studied at Innsbruck and Munich, and entered the Jesuit order at Landsberg am Lech on 9 October 1753. He taught philosophy at Munich from 1758 to 1761, before going to Ingolstadt to study theology. Zallinger was ordained priest on 1 June 1765.
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Francis Xavier Bianchi
1743 - 1815 (72 years)
Francis Xavier Mary Bianchi , was an Italian Barnabite priest and noted scholar, who also gained a reputation for sanctity during his lifetime from both his commitment to his students and to the poor of Naples. He has been proclaimed a saint by the Catholic Church and declared the Apostle of the city.
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Konrad Wimpina
1460 - 1531 (71 years)
Konrad Wimpina was a German Roman Catholic theologian and humanist of the early Reformation period. He was a quiet and stubborn conservative, considered quiet but somewhat narrow. In theology he was a pupil of Martin Polich of Mellerstadt and a Thomist.
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