Sommer John , of Pirna, a fortified town of Upper Saxony, is represented by Bock as a man holding peculiar opinions ; and as never having been approved of, in all respects, either by the followers of Socin, or Socin himself. He is said to have followed a military life till the year 1555 ; then to have prosecuted his studies some time at the University of Wittenberg ; and afterwards to have gone into Hungary and Transylvania, in the latter of which countries he is supposed to have become a Unitarian. He was appointed Master of the School at Bistricz, in Transylvania ; and after remaining there some time, went back into Germany. But he was invited to return to Transylvania, by Blandrata and Davidis, and undertake the management of the School at Clausenburg.

Adam Neuser, who had been obliged to leave Germany in the year 1571, and had travelled through Holland and France, met him in Poland, in the spring of the year following, and accompanied him into Transylvania. Lubieniecius mentions, that Sommer and Neuser arrived at Cracow on the same day, but whether by accident, or by appointment, does not appear ; and that they set out, on the 15th of April, on their way into Transylvania. What happened to Neuser, after their arrival there, will be found in the account of that singularly unfortunate man. (Vide Art. 85.) Sommer continued, for a year or two, at Clausenburg ; but was taken off by the plague, about the year 1573, or 1574, together with his wife and daughter-in-law.

He was a remarkably good Greek scholar, and attained to considerable eminence as a poet. It is not known what led him to abandon the doctrine of the Trinity. Zeltner thought, that his defection from the ranks of Lutheranism took place while he was at Wittenberg ; and that Lelio Socin was instrumental in his conversion. But Laelius was at Wittenberg only from July, 1550, to June, 1551 ; and Sommer did not go thither till after the close of Charles the Fifth's last expedition into the Netherlands, in 1555. Besides, as Bock observes, it cannot be proved, that he imbibed Unitarian opinions in Germany. Nor is Bock's own conjecture more probable, that these opinions were instilled into him by Neuser ; because the letter, accompanying Sommer's "Eight Theses concerning the Papal Trinity," is dated May 15th, 1571, nearly a year before he and Neuser met at Cracow. It should be recollected also, that Sommer at this time held the office of Rector of the School at Clausenburg ; that he had been invited to fill that office by Blandrata and Davidis, who had impugned the doctrine of the Trinity at Thorda, as early as March, 1566 ; and that they had probably had frequent opportunities of intercourse with him, during his former residence in Transylvania. It seems, therefore, on the whole, most probable, that he was the convert of Blandrata, or Davidis.

Ruarus says, that James Palaeologus, Francis Davidis, and John Sommer, in their later writings, and also Christian Francken, followed in the footsteps of Glirius ; from which it would seem, that Glirius was regarded as the founder of that school of Theology, which refused to join in the Invocation of Christ.

After the death of Sommer, Palaeologus and Glirius were appointed Co-rectors of the School at Clausenburg. At that time, therefore, as is evident, many of the leading Unitarians of Transylvania were of the same opinion with Budnaeus and Davidis respecting the worship of Christ. Sommer was the intimate friend of Davidis, and was known, among the Crypto-Socinians at Altorf, by the name of Therinus, which is a Graecized form of his own German name Sommer, corresponding with our English word Summer. (Vide Art. 168.)

The following writings have been attributed to him.

1. An Elegiac Poem on the Kings of Hungary.

2. Eight Theses on the Papal Trinity, 1571 ; inserted, with an Epistle of Sommer's, dated May 15th, 1571, in Lubieniecius's " History of the Polish Reformation."

3. A Refutation of Peter Carolius's "Explanation of the Orthodox Faith concerning the One true God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, against the Errors of George Blandrata and Francis Davidis. 1571." To this "Refutation" were added tracts on various subjects; and prefixed to the whole was an Epistle of Theodosius Schimberg, who published this "Refutation " in 1582.

4. A Confutation of the Objections mentioned at the Close of Theodosius Schimberg's Epistle, prefixed to No. 3.

5. On Man's Justification in the Sight of God. Also Propositions on the same Subject, addressed to the Elders at Thorda, Sept. 19th, 1572; together with the Answer of the Elders at Clausenburg, Sept. 29th, 1572, and a Confutation of " the Answer of the Elders," Oct. 5th, by John Sommer.

6. A brief Declamation against the Predestination of the Neoterics.

7. A Declamation against Adult Baptism.

8. Theological Paradoxes.

9. A Life of James, the Despot, Ruler of Moldavia, with brief Commentaries of Peter Albinus on Wallachia. Wittenb. 1587, 4to. This work is very small, but very rare. James, the Despot, to whom it relates, was called Heraclides, and obtained celebrity, under that name, among the Princes of Moldavia.

(Vidend. Sandii B. A. pp. 57, 58. Bock, Hist Ant. T. I. pp. 888— 894. Lubieniecii Hist Ref. Polon. L. iii. C. xL pp. 234—238. Zeltneri Hist. Crypto-Socinismi, pp. 349—354; Supplem. p. 1232. Ruari Epist. Cent. i. N. 46.)

Le Roux Didier - Unitariens - © Since 2006 -  All rights reserved " No reproduction, even partial, other than those planned in the article L 122-5 of the code of the intellectual property, can be made by this site without the express authorization of the author ".