SINZIG, PEDRO

Editor in Brazil; b. Linz, Germany, Jan. 29, 1876; d. Düsseldorf, Sept. 12, 1952. Having completed his studies in the humanities, he went to Brazil in 1893, was ordained (1898), and as a member of the Franciscan province of the Immaculate Conception began an intense apostolate throughout Brazil. Sinzig was a pioneer in all Catholic cultural activities in his adopted land. He founded or edited 12 periodicals, including A Resposta, A Tela, Vozes, Beija Flor, and A União (with Felício dos Santos). Another journal, Múica Sacra (1941), which he founded and edited, was one of his contributions to music; others were his Dicionário Musical (1947), Sei Compor (1946), and O Organista. He also organized and taught influential summer courses in the Pro-Arte Brasil. Sinzig's novels, among them Não desanimar (1912) and Pela Maão de uma Menina (1913), are noteworthy, as are such critical studies as Caricatura na Imprensa Brasileira (1911), Em Plena Guerra (1912), and Através dos Romances (1928). In 60 years of intense apostolic activity, this authentic Christian humanist made unique contributions to the religious and cultural life of Brazil.

Bibliography: p. sinzig, Reminiscências d'um Frade (Petrópolis 1911). l. l. beutenmueller, Frei Pedro Sinzig, O.F.M. (Petrópolis 1955). r. koepe, "Em memória de Frei Sinzig, O.F.M.," Música Sacra 13 (1953) 2–4. f. m. kohnen, "Frei Sinzig Pedro Sinzig, O.F.M., o pionerio," Vozes de Petrópolis 11 (1953) 1–18.

[a. stulzer]