LAMORMAINI, WILHELM

Jesuit administrator and teacher; b. Duchy of Luxembourg, Dec. 29, 1570; d. Vienna, Feb. 22, 1648. He received his doctorate at Prague, entered the Society of Jesus in 1590, and was ordained in 1596. From 1600 he taught philosophy and theology at Graz; he became rector of the Jesuit college there in 1614. He was in Rome between 1621 and 1623 and then went to Vienna to become father confessor and spiritual counselor to the Emperor ferdinand ii. As such, he played a significant role in conjunction with Ferdinand's efforts to renew Hapsburg power and Catholic strength in the Holy Roman Empire, in particular with respect to the administration of the Edict of restitution (1629) and the elimination of Duke Albrecht von wallenstein in 1634. After the death of Ferdinand in 1637, Lamormaini became rector of the University in Vienna, and between 1643 and 1645 he was provincial of the Austrian province of the Society of Jesus. There he was noted for encouraging the growth of Jesuit institutions in the Empire and strengthening the Church in the Hapsburg lands. Part of his biography of the emperor, Ferdinand II, Romanorum Imperatoris virtutes, was published in 1638.

Bibliography: a. posch, "Zur Tätigkeit und Beurteilung Lamormains," Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 63 (1955) 375–390; Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 6:769. c. sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus (Brussels-Paris 1890–1932) 4:1428–31.

[t. t. helde]