Faber, Johann (1478–1541)

German Catholic theologian and diplomat. A close friend to Erasmus, Faber at first sympathized with those wishing to reform the Catholic Church, but later became a staunch supporter of the established church order. His treatise Malleus in haeresiam Lutheranam/Hammer of Lutheran Heresy (1524) earned him the nickname of ‘hammer of the heretics’.

He was born at Leutkirch near Memmingen and studied at Tübingen and Fribourg. In 1518 he joined the diocesan bureaucracy of the bishop of Constance. His knowledge of philosophy and science was valuable to his side in the debate. Among his diplomatic missions was the occasion when the future Emperor Ferdinand I sent him to England to enlist the support of Henry VIII against the Turks. From 1530 Faber was bishop of Vienna.