Jacob Anton Zallinger zum Thurn

Who was Jacob Anton Zallinger zum Thurn?

Jacob Anton Zallinger zum Thurn was a philosopher and canonist, born in Bozen, 26 July 1735, died there, 11 January 1813. He studied at Innsbruck and Munich, entered the Jesuit order on 9 October 1753, was ordained priest on 1 June 1765, then taught philosophy at Munich, Dillingen, and Innsbruck. Shortly after the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773, Prince-bishop Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony engaged him as professor of canon law at Augsburg. He held this position for thirty years, with the exception of four months, during which he was theologian at the papal nunciature at Ratisbon, and sixteen months, which upon invitation of Pius VII he spent in Rome as papal councillor in German affairs. In 1807 he returned to Bolzano, devoting the rest of his life to literary labours. As a canonist he defended the papal rights again the Febronian tendencies in Germany, and as a philosopher he endeavoured to replace the scholastic method by the empiricism of Newton.