Sperl, Joseph

Sperl, Joseph a Roman Catholic divine of Germany, Was born June 1, 1761, at Lauchheim, in Bavaria. In. 1800 he was appointed to the pastorate at Zoschingen, and afterwards to that of Schneidheim, having at the same time the superintendence of the schools. He died in 1834. In 1800 he published a hymn book especially for the use of Roman Catholics, where some fine specimens of his own poetry can be found, as Um die Erd und ihre Kinder (Engl. transl. "Round this earth and round her children," in Hymns from the Land of Luther, p. 155). See Koch, Gesch. des deutschen Kirchenliedes, 6, 547; Knapp, Evangel. Liederschatz, p. 1345. (B.P.)