Abraomas Kulvietis

Abraham Culvensis, also Abraomas Kulvietis, Abraham Kulvietis, (* 1509 in Kulva at Jonava; † July 19, 1545 in Vilnius ) was Polish- Lithuanian lawyer and Protestant theologian from Lithuania.

Life and work

An old wealthy aristocratic family entstammend, Culvensis studied from 1528 to 1537, first in Krakow. When he heard about the renewal of the sciences by the humanism, he first went to the University of Louvain where he was influenced by Erasmus of Rotterdam, then to Wittenberg Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon. From there he moved to Leipzig in 1536 and finished his studies in Siena, Italy, with the completion of the academic doctorate of Rights 1537.

1538 he returned to his home country and has lectured in Vilnius. Here he built in 1540 on a school that was attended by 60 students. As a Protestant Rectors however, he was strongly opposed and eventually forced to leave his home. He went to Königsberg in Prussia, came there in the teaching profession and was soon in 1542, the first director of the ducal Particulars that was preparing for university studies.

At the opening of the Albertus University of Königsberg in 1544, he was the first Professor of Greek and Hebrew. How a Letter of Paul Speratus displays it, he enjoyed great respect at the university and in the church. Speratus urged him to become a teacher of his countrymen in the evangelical understanding of faith. In these suggestions, the first Lithuanian Catechism goes back, which was printed in 1547 in Königsberg. Even evangelical songs were translated into Lithuanian by him.

In the message out that his mother is dying, he traveled in 1546 in the home. Duke Albert I of Brandenburg -Ansbach had obtained him the king of Poland - Lithuania Sigismund I the Old safe conduct, but he took this trip already as a sick man and came only in the home in order for there with a clear commitment Gospel to end his life. Rumor has it he was poisoned by his enemies.

Works

• Confessio fidei Abr. Culvensis, 1543