HANEBERG, DANIEL BONIFATIUS

Orientalist, Biblical scholar, abbot, and bishop; b. Lenzfried, near Kempten, Bavaria, June 16, 1816; d. Speyer, Rhine Palatinate, May 31, 1876. After his seminary studies at the University of Munich, where he came under the influence of J. J. I. von dÖllinger, he was ordained in 1839. During his student years he learned most of the Semitic languages. From 1841 to 1872 he taught OT and Oriental studies at the University of Munich. In 1850 he entered the Benedictine Abbey of St. Boniface in Munich and in 1854 was elected its abbot. Meanwhile he maintained his teaching post and his ties with the German intellectuals, particularly Döllinger, C. M. Brentano, J. J. von gÖrres's circle, and the Bavarian royal family. Opposed at first to the definition of papal infallibility, he accepted it after vatican council i. Although he had refused the bishoprics of Trier (1864), Cologne (1865), and Eichstätt (1866), he consented to be consecrated bishop of Speyer (1872). A deeply religious and zealous man, he hastened his death by overwork in his pastoral duties as bishop.

Haneberg is remembered mostly for his theory that the subsequent approbation of the Church constitutes the inspired nature of the books of the Bible, a doctrine that he repudiated after it was condemned by Vatican Council I. He should be remembered rather for his many scholarly works on Biblical and Oriental subjects, among them Die religiösen Altertümer der Bibel (Munich 1844, 2d ed. 1869), Geschichte der biblischen Offenbarung (Regensburg 1850, 4th ed. 1876), and his edition and Latin translation of the Canones S. Hippolyti arabice (Munich 1870).

Bibliography: j. trinquet, Catholicisme 5:506–507. h. lang, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) (1966) 4:1351. p. funk, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. m. buchberger, 10 v. (Freiburg 1930–38) 4:815–816. s. furlani and f. e. gigot, The Catholic Encyclopedia, ed. c. g. herbermann et al., 16 v. (New York 1907–14; suppl. 1922) 7:127–128.

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