Jesper Rasmussen Brochmand, bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of Zealand; born at Køge

Køge

Køge Municipality is a municipality in Region Sjælland on the east coast of the island of Zealand approx. 40 km. southwest of Copenhagen. The municipality covers an area of 255 km² , and has a total population of 56,637...

, Zealand, August 5, 1585; died at Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 April 19, 1652.

He studied at Herlufsholm, Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, Leyden, and Franeker

Franeker

Franeker is one of the eleven historical cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Franekeradeel. It is located about 20 km west of Leeuwarden on the Van Harinxma Canal. As of 1 January 2006, it had 12,996 inhabitants. The city is famous for the Eisinga Planetarium from around...

; became rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 of Herlufsholm academy
1608; professor pædagogicus, University of Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...

, 1610; professor of Greek 1613; member of the theological faculty 1615. In 1617 he was appointed teacher to Prince Christian, son of King Christian IV., but returned to the university three years later. At this time Denmark was disturbed by Roman Catholic propaganda from the scholastic revival

Second scholasticism

In philosophy, the term second scholasticism denotes the 16th-century revival of the scholastic system of philosophy, that arose, in part, to counter the Protestant Reformation, by returning to biblical language usage, and to the Fathers of the Church...

, and Brochmand made the controversy with Rome a subject of his public lectures. In 1626–28 he published his Controversiæ sacræ (3 parts), a reply in the style of Lutheran scholasticism

Lutheran scholasticism

Lutheran scholasticism was a theological method that gradually developed during the era of Lutheran Orthodoxy. Theologians used the neo-Aristotelian form of presentation, already popular in academia, in their writings and lectures...

 to Cardinal Bellarmine's attacks on the Lutheran Church, and in 1634, at the king's order, he engaged in a polemic with the Jesuits, who endeavored to defend the conversion of Margrave Christian William of Brandenburg to Catholicism. In their final reply the Jesuits stigmatized Brochmand as a "disturber of the Roman empire, the boldest despiser of His Imperial Majesty and the Catholic rulers, a poisonous spider, and a degenerate Absalom

Absalom

According to the Bible, Absalom or Avshalom was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maachah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur. describes him as the most handsome man in the kingdom...

." Against this pamphlet Brochmand delivered a series of lectures which after his death were collected and published under the title Apologiæ, speculi veritatis confutatio (Copenhagen, 1653). He was ordained bishop of Zealand in 1639, and during his long and fruitful activity in this office reorganized the Danish church service, especially by abolishing the Latin choir, and by introducing Wednesday services during Lent

Lent

In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...

. His reputation as a dogmatist was established by his Universæ theologiæ systema (2 vols., 1633) in which he proved himself a bitter opponent, not only of the Roman Catholics, but also of the Reformed, whom he calls "enemies of God and of truth." He wrote several devotional works, of which his Sabbati sanctificatio for more than two centuries was a favorite collection of sermons

Postil

Postil or Postilla: a medieval Latin term for a marginal note or a Biblical commentary affixed to a text, being an abbreviation of the phrase post illa verba textus...

with the Danish people.