Wisconsin Author 1861

Heiss, Michael

[UNKNOWN WISCONSIN AUTHOR, 1861]. De Matrimonio Tractatus Quinque, Usui Venerabilis Cleri Americani accommodati appendice adjecta duplici

Munich: E. Stahl, 1861. First Edition. 8vo. xiv, 424 pp. Original quarter sheep (leather suffed but the binding is perfectly sound; extremities worn). Contemporary inscription on title-page: "H.D. Tuncker, Ep. Altonensis" (i.e. Altona, outside Hamburg). NOT ex-library! Very good. Item #3615

SCARCE TREATISE ON MARRIAGE, "ADAPTED FOR THE USE OF AMERICAN CLERGYMEN," WRITTEN BY AN EARLY GERMAN EMIGRANT TO WISCONSIN. ONE COPY IN AMERICA LOCATED.

From the Preface, we learn that the work "is intended primarily for missionary priests who perform the care of souls in these American provinces [...]. For this reason I have not only explained in more detail the individual impediments of marriage in the second and third tract, but also through many practical questions which occurred to me, especially those which are peculiar to the condition of this region [i.e. America]. To the same end, in the fourth treatise, a further distinction is made concerning the dispensation of impediments and the revalidation of marriage [...]. In the fifth chapter [...] I have recorded the things which are to be observed in the celebration of marriage [i.e. nuptials], so that everything is carried out piously and religiously." (Translation ours). Heiss then give a list of thirty works that "almost never left my hands" while writing this book.

Heiss added two Appendices: the first illustrates fifty-seven practical cases concerning marriage, including consanguinity, impotence, criminality, insantity, non-consummation, virginity (or lack thereof), etc. The second appendix presents guides for writing letters about matrimonial causes and dispensations.

Michael Heiss (1818-1890) was a German-born American Roman Catholic clergyman and educator. He arrived in America in 1842 and was assigned to the diocese of Covington, Kentucky, where he remained until 1844, at which time he accompanied Bishop John Henni to Milwaukee.

He acted in the capacity as Pastor for the Germans of St. Mary’s, Milwaukee, and visited missions within a radius of fifty miles. He was the first rector of St. Francis Seminary, St. Francis, Wisconsin (1856-1868), an institution which he helped to found and in which he taught theology, canon law, and scripture. He was the first bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin, which he served from 1868 to 1880. In the next year he was appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee which he served until his death.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has microfilm only. Only one copy in America has been located, namely GWU Jacob Burns Law Library.

From the Dorothy Sloan Collection of Women in the West.

Price: $400.00