Cyrill Riga O.P. (1689-1758). The Life and the Work of a European Preacher in the Age of Reason

“In history, there have been prominent per-sonalities who did not become renowned until their death, such as Vincent van Gogh; but there were also those who already became famous during their lifetime, for instance, Michelangelo Buonarroti. Both groups of people are rather common. Still, how many more people were there who were well-known or even celebrated in their days, but whose works died a natural death soon after their authors had passed away? One of these such persons is the main character of this treatise – Cyrill Riga O.P.” He “appears to be difficult to define; owing to the lack of historical sources and the fact that he was a friar, we are not able to describe more in depth the nature of his personality which formed the basis of his character, and so, he presents an exceptional challenge to historians. (…) Yet Riga was not a scholar in an ordinary sense of the word: he did not deal with archaeology, numismatics, heraldry, or even history or law. Nor did theology, philos-ophy, or timely scholarly controversies attract him. Instead, his field of study was homiletics, a discipline which has enjoyed immense popularity in the history of the Dominican Order.” “He preached at many places of Central Europe in German, and also, possibly in Latin. More importantly, however, his fame originated in his sermon-collections which were published in German in the 1740s and 1750s, and which provided preachers with model sermons directed to particular types of audiences. Based upon this evidence, it is no doubt that he preferred German to Latin in his spoken as well as written discourse, though this was not yet common in the Czech lands of that time.”