ZACHARIAS

See also:

• ZACHARIAS URSINUS (1534-1583)

URSINUS (1534-1583)  , German theologian, and one of the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism (q.v.), was born at Breslau on the 18th of July 1534, and became a disciple of Melanchthon at Wittenberg . He afterwards studied divinity at Geneva under Calvin, and Hebrew at Paris under Jean Mercier . In 1561 he was appointed professor in the Collegium Sapientiae at Heidelberg, where in 1563 at the instance of the elector-palatine, Frederick III., he drew up the Catechism in co-operation with Kaspar Olevian . The death of the elector in 1576 led to the removal of Ursinus, who from 1578 till his death in 1583 occupied a professorial chair at Neustadt-ar.-der-Haardt . His Works were published in 1587-89, and a more complete edition by his son and two of his pupils, Pareus and Reuterus, in 1612 .