Truber, Primus

Truber, Primus a notable personage in the Reformation in Germany, was consecrated to the priesthood by Peter Bonomus, bishop of Trieste, and took charge of the parish of Lack in 1527. In 1531 he became at canon of Laibach, where the new doctrine was already promulgated, and soon afterwards he took ground in opposition to the Church of Rome. He was assailed by the clergy and the government, but protected by the nobles until 1540. Bishop Bonomus then called him to Trieste. In 1547 the bishop of Laibach, Urban Textor, procured an order for the apprehension of Truber, in consequence of which the latter was compelled to flee. He found a new parish at Rothenburg in the following year, and while there he entered into wedlock with a woman named Barbara. From 1553 to 1560 he was pastor at Kempten. As early as 1550, or, perhaps, earlier still, Truber had endeavored to minister to the needs of his countrymen by preparing translations in the Wendish dialect of an Abecedarium and a catechism, which were printed, with Latin letters, at Tibingen. The prosecution of his plans was made possible through Vergerius (q.v.), who induced duke Christopher of Würtemberg to pay for the printing. In 1555 the Wendish Gospel of St. Matthew appeared in print, and in 1556 the other historical books of the New Test. Romans, both epistles to the Corinthians, and Galatians were published in 1561. After various vicissitudes, Truber obtained the parish of Urach, where the famous baron Hans Ungnad became his patron and enabled him to establish his own press for the printing of Slavic books. The types used were both Glagolitic and Cyrillic. SEE GLAGOLITA. The accounts of the printing-office are still in existence, and show that many princes and towns contributed to its support. Its publications included Luther's catechisms, the Augsburg Confession, and the Apology, Melancthon's Loci Communes, the Würtemberg Church Discipline, the Beneficium Christi, and spiritual hymns: but the enterprise was not remunerative, and was abandoned soon after the death of baron Ungnad in 1564. Truber passed the last twenty years of his life in charge of the parish of Deredingen, near Tiibingen. Two days before he died he dictated to his amanuensis the closing sentences for his translation of Luther's Hauspostille. He died June 28, 1586, after a brief illness, and in the seventy-eighth year of his age. See Sillem, Primus Truber, der Reformator Krains (Erlang. 1861); Schnurrer, Slavischer

Bicherdruck in Würtemberg (Tib. 1799); and particularly Herzog, Real- Encyklop. 21 s.v., where a much more complete and somewhat divergent sketch of Truber's career is given.