Knoll, Albert

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KNOLL, ALBERT

Theologian; b. Brunico, Italy, July 12, 1796; d. Bolzano, Italy, Mar. 30, 1863. He entered the Capuchins in 1818, and later taught theology for 27 years and was a definitor general of his order from 1847 to 1853. His literary activity covered three areas: dogma, Canon Law, and pastoral theology. His outstanding theological work was Institutiones theologiae dogmaticae generalis (Innsbruck 1852). This work was accorded an extraordinary reception in seminaries because of its orthodoxy, clarity of method, and abundance of proofs; it went through 15 editions from 1852 to 1904. A more ample treatment of theology was given in Institutiones theologiae theoreticae (6 v. Turin 185359); it enjoyed 12 editions from 1862 to 1892. In the field of Canon Law he wrote an exposition of the Franciscan rule, Expositio Regulae Fratrum Minorum (Innsbruck 1850), which is regarded as official by the Capuchins. There were five editions in Latin, two in Spanish, and one in Italian. In addition, he left two courses on preaching, Predigten für die Sonntage (Bressanone 1867), that were published four times in German and three times in Italian.

Bibliography: É. d'alenÇon, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al, 14 vol. (Paris 190350) 1.1:664666.

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