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Poland/Germany
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Angelus Silesius

Timeline (1624 - 1677)

Poems by Angelus Silesius
Books - Links

Angelus Silesius, Angelus Silesius poetry, Christian, Christian poetry, Catholic poetry, poetry, poetry

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Angelus Silesius is the monastic name of Johannes Scheffler. Johannes Scheffler was born into a noble Polish Lutheran family. He received a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Padua and became a physician.

As a young man he was drawn to the writings of the German mystic Jacob Boehme. Scheffler's growing mysticism didn't sit well with the dogmatic forms of German Lutheranism of the time and, in 1653, he converted to Catholicism. He took the name Angelus, adding the surname Silesius, meaning "from Silesia."

During this time, Selisius was briefly named physician to Emperor Ferdinand III, but he soon renounced his profession and, in 1661, he was ordained a priest and retired to monastic life in Breslau. He gave his family fortune away to charities.

He published two books of poetry: The Soul's Spiritual Delight and The Cherubic Pilgrim. Several of his poems are today used as religious hymns in both Catholic and Protestant churches.

Angelus Silesius was often engaged in public controversy with both the Lutheran Church he had left and also with his adopted Catholic faith. His poetry hinted at a quietest mysticism which asserts that the soul, when it attains deep quiet, can experience God directly -- a notion neither institution has been too fond of.

Poems by Angelus Silesius

	Eternity is time
	Friend, whatever you are, you must not stand still:
	God is a pure no-thing
	God is my final end;
	God, whose love and joy
	In God nought e'er is known
	In Spirit senses are
	One Cannot Grasp God
	One Must Go Beyond God
	The soul, an eternal spirit, is beyond timešs hold:
	Thou needst not cry to God
	To Be Nothing and Want Nothing
	When quitting time, I am

Recommended Books

	The Angelic Verses: From the Book of Angelus Silesius, Translated by Frederick Frank Amazon.com
	Angelus Silesius, by Jeffrey L. Sammons Amazon.com
	Angelus Silesius: The Cherubinic Wanderer (Classics of Western Spirituality), by Angelus Silesius / Translated by Maria Shrady Amazon.com
	Angelus Silesius' Cherubinischer Wandersmann: A Modern Reading With Selected Translations (Renaissance and Baroque Studies and Texts), by Maria M. Bohm Amazon.com
	The Book of Angelus Silesius, Translated by Frederick Frank Amazon.com
	The Book of Angelus Silesius: With Observations by the Ancient Zen Masters, by Frederick Frank Amazon.com
	The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell Amazon.com
	German Mystical Writings: Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Jacob Boehme, and others, Edited by Karen J. Campbell Amazon.com
	Haiku: The Gentle Art of Disappearing, by Gabriel Rosenstock Amazon.com
	Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty, Edited by Alan Jacobs Amazon.com

Related Links:

	Catholic Encyclopedia: Silesius Angelus http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01488a.htm Brief biography.
	Sacred Texts: Angelus Silesius http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/sil/index.htm Extended selections from The Cherubinic Wanderer, and a couple of brief articles on the mysticism of Angelus Silesius.
	Johann Scheffler (Angelus Silesius) http://www.ccel.org/w/winkworth/singers/htm/angelus.htm Brief biography of Angelus Silesius, including some notes on the controversies he was involved in.
	Cumulative Indexes to the Hymn Translations of Catherine Winkworth (Silesius) http://www.ccel.org/ccel/winkworth/hyndwink.schefflr.html Several of Silesius' poems translated into hymns in the 1800's.

Please support the Poetry Chaikhana, as well as the authors and publishers of sacred poetry, by purchasing some of the recommended books through the links on this site. Thank you!

Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Angelus Silesius

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Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

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