Paulus Weidner von Billerburg ( né Nathan Ashkenazi; [1] 1525–1585) was a Jewish convert to Christianity, a medical doctor, and professor of Hebrew at the University of Vienna.
Nathan Ashkenazi was born into a Jewish faith (the businessman and medical doctor Solomon Ashkenazi was an elder brother) in Carinthia. [1] [2] He studied medicine at the University of Padua, [1] and practiced at Udine, [2] from whence he was called back to his homeland by the Estates of Carinthia to practice medicine there. [1] [2]
During a six-year stay in Carinthia, after careful study of his and the Christian religion, he decided to become a Christian. [2] Realising the danger that threatened him on the part of his co-religionists, he kept his intention secret for a year, and having made up his mind, he left Carinthia and went to Vienna. [2]
Weidner joined the Roman Catholic Church in Vienna in 1558. [1] [2] He received thereafter the patronage of successive Austrian emperors, who employed him as personal physician and even consulted him on certain matters. [1] On 13 March 1560, Emperor Ferdinand I confiscated all the Hebrew books of the Bohemian Jewry, and had them brought to Weidner in Vienna for scrutiny; he found no fault in them, and had them sent back to Prague. [1]
Weidner was professor of Hebrew at the Vienna University, and was appointed by Imperial permission to preach occasionally to the Jews. [3] He was six times dean of the faculty of medicine and thrice rector of the university. [1] He was ennobled, with the title "von Billerburg", in 1582. [1] He died in Vienna in 1585. [2]
His first work, Loca Praecipua Fidei Christianae Collecta et Explicata (Vienna, 1559; 2nd edition 1562, with Epistola Hebr. ad R. Jehudam, Venet. Habitantem, cum Vessione Latina), is particularly aimed at the Jews, to convince them of the truth of Christianity. [2] [1] He dedicated this work, in the preface to which he gives information about his life and conversion, to Emperor Ferdinand. [2] Weidner's last published work was Sententiae Hebraicae (1563), a collection of proverbs. [1]
Paulus Weidner von Billerburg ( né Nathan Ashkenazi; [1] 1525–1585) was a Jewish convert to Christianity, a medical doctor, and professor of Hebrew at the University of Vienna.
Nathan Ashkenazi was born into a Jewish faith (the businessman and medical doctor Solomon Ashkenazi was an elder brother) in Carinthia. [1] [2] He studied medicine at the University of Padua, [1] and practiced at Udine, [2] from whence he was called back to his homeland by the Estates of Carinthia to practice medicine there. [1] [2]
During a six-year stay in Carinthia, after careful study of his and the Christian religion, he decided to become a Christian. [2] Realising the danger that threatened him on the part of his co-religionists, he kept his intention secret for a year, and having made up his mind, he left Carinthia and went to Vienna. [2]
Weidner joined the Roman Catholic Church in Vienna in 1558. [1] [2] He received thereafter the patronage of successive Austrian emperors, who employed him as personal physician and even consulted him on certain matters. [1] On 13 March 1560, Emperor Ferdinand I confiscated all the Hebrew books of the Bohemian Jewry, and had them brought to Weidner in Vienna for scrutiny; he found no fault in them, and had them sent back to Prague. [1]
Weidner was professor of Hebrew at the Vienna University, and was appointed by Imperial permission to preach occasionally to the Jews. [3] He was six times dean of the faculty of medicine and thrice rector of the university. [1] He was ennobled, with the title "von Billerburg", in 1582. [1] He died in Vienna in 1585. [2]
His first work, Loca Praecipua Fidei Christianae Collecta et Explicata (Vienna, 1559; 2nd edition 1562, with Epistola Hebr. ad R. Jehudam, Venet. Habitantem, cum Vessione Latina), is particularly aimed at the Jews, to convince them of the truth of Christianity. [2] [1] He dedicated this work, in the preface to which he gives information about his life and conversion, to Emperor Ferdinand. [2] Weidner's last published work was Sententiae Hebraicae (1563), a collection of proverbs. [1]