PRÜMMER, DOMINIKUS

Dominican moral theologian and canonist; b. Kalterherberg, near Aachen, Germany, Sept. 3, 1866; d. Fribourg, Switzerland, June 9, 1931. Prümmer became a Dominican in 1884, studied philosophy and theology at the University of Louvain, and was ordained in 1890. While continuing his studies, he also wrote and taught theology at Venlo and at Düsseldorf, where he served for three years as prior. In 1906 he went to England to teach moral theology in the Dominican house of studies at Hawkesyard near Rugeley in Staffordshire. He received his doctorate in Canon Law in 1908 at the Collegio Angelico in Rome and was then assigned to teach moral theology at the University of Fribourg. There he spent the remainder of his life. Prümmer's writings included books and articles on moral theology, Canon Law, psychopathology, and history. Among his works were the treatise Manuale theologiae moralis secundum principia S. Thomae Aquinatis (3 v., Freiburg im Breisgau 1914); the Vademecum theologiae moralis in usum examinandorum et confessariorum (an epitome of the Manuale, Freiburg im Breisgau 1921), and the Manuale iuris ecclesiastici (2v. Freiburg im Breisgau 1907–09). All these works went through several editions. Prümmer was a frequent contributor to many ecclesiastical journals and edited the Fontes vitae S. Thomae Aquinatis notis historicis et criticis illustrati (Toulouse 191–137). Toward the end of his life, Prümmer devoted much time to the problem of the relationship between moral theology and psychopathology, but his untimely death kept him from completing his works on this subject.

Bibliography: Analecta Sacri Ordinis Praedicatorum 39 (1931) 247–249.

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