author
Angelus Silesius
1624–1677
A 17th-century mystic poet and physician, he is best known for short, striking epigrams that turn spiritual ideas into memorable lines. Writing under the name Angelus Silesius, he became one of the distinctive voices of German Baroque literature.
1 Audiobook
Aus des Angelus Silesius Cherubinischem Wandersmann
by Angelus Silesius
About the author
Born Johann Scheffler in Breslau in 1624, Angelus Silesius was a physician, priest, and religious writer whose work joined poetry with Christian mysticism. He was raised Lutheran, later converted to Roman Catholicism in the 1650s, and was ordained a priest in 1661.
He is remembered above all for Der Cherubinische Wandersmann (The Cherubic Wanderer), a collection of brief, thoughtful epigrams first published in 1674. The poems are often simple on the surface but open into larger questions about God, the soul, silence, and inner transformation, which is one reason they have continued to attract readers far beyond his own time.
Silesius died in Breslau in 1677, but his writing has lasted because of its unusual mix of clarity and mystery. Even in just a few lines, he could sound calm, challenging, and unforgettable at once.