ANGELUS

angelus, a roman catholic devotion in memory of the annunciation. it has its name from the opening words, _angelus domini nuntiavit mariae_. it consists of three texts describing the mystery, recited as versicle and response alternately with the salutation "hail, mary!" this devotion is recited in the catholic church three times daily, about 6 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. at these hours a bell known as the angelus bell is rung. this is still rung in some english country churches, and has often been mistaken for and alleged to be a survival of the curfew bell. the institution of the angelus is by some ascribed to pope urban ii., by some to john xxii. the triple recitation is ascribed to louis xi. of france, who in 1472 ordered it to be thrice said daily. angelus silesius (1624-1677), german religious poet, was born in 1624 at breslau. his family name was johann scheffler, but he is generally known by the pseudonym angelus silesius, under which he published his poems and which marks the country of his birth. brought up a lutheran, and at first physician to the duke of wurttemberg-oels, he joined in 1652 the roman catholic church, in 1661 took orders as a priest, and became coadjutor to the prince bishop of breslau. he died at breslau on the 9th of july 1677. in 1657 silesius published under the title _heilige seelenlust, oder geistliche hirtenlieder der in ihren jesum verliebten psyche_ (1657), a collection of 205 hymns, the most beautiful of which, such as, _liebe, die du mich zum bilde deiner gottheit hast gemacht_ and _mir nach, spricht christus, unser held_, have been adopted in the german protestant hymnal. more remarkable, however, is his _geistreiche sinn-und schluss-reime_ (1657), afterwards called _cherubinischer wandersmann_ (1674). this is a collection of "reimspruche" or rhymed distichs embodying a strange mystical pantheism drawn mainly from the writings of jakob bohme and his followers. silesius delighted specially in the subtle paradoxes of mysticism. the essence of god, for instance, he held to be love; god, he said, can love nothing inferior to himself; but he cannot be an object of love to himself without going out, so to speak, of himself, without manifesting his infinity in a finite form; in other words, by becoming man. god and man are therefore essentially one. a complete edition of scheffler's works (_samtliche poetische werke_) was published by d.a. rosenthal, 2 vols. (regensburg, 1862). both the _cherubinischer wandersmann_ and _heilige seelenlust_ have been republished by g. ellinger (1895 and 1901); a selection from the former work by o.e. hartleben (1896). for further notices of silesius' life and work, see hoffmann von fallersleben in _weimarisches jahrbuch i_. (hanover, 1854); a. kahlert, _angelus silesius_ (1853); c. seltmann, _angelus silesius und seine mystik_ (1896), and a biog. by h. mahn (dresden, 1896). angermunde, a town of germany, in the prussian province of brandenburg, on lake munde, 43 m. from berlin by the berlin-stettin railway, and at the junction of lines to prenzlau, freien-walde and schwedt. pop. (1900) 7465. it has three protestant churches, a grammar school and court of law. its industries embrace iron founding and enamel working. in 1420 the elector frederick i. of brandenburg gained here a signal victory over the pomeranians.