Deharbe's Large Catechism, Translated by a Father of the Society of Jesus, of the Province of Missouri, from the German Edition Prepared for the United States, with the Approval and Co-operation of the Author, and Approved by His Grace, the Most Rev. Arc…

153 pp. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Deharbe (11 April 1800 at Strasbourg, Alsace – 8 November 1871 at Maria-Laach) was a French Jesuit theologian and catechist. As a catechist in Köthen he felt the lack of a good catechism, and was encouraged by his superior, Fr. Devis, to compose one. As a model he took the Mainz catechism of 1842 and made use also of other good textbooks, notably of Bossuet's catechism. He completed his first catechism, called "Katholischer Katechismus oder Lehrbegriff" in 1847. In 1848 it appeared anonymously at Ratisbon and immediately won approval. Bishop Blum of Linsburg introduced it officially into his diocese the same year; the following year the bishops of Trier and Hildesheim did likewise for their dioceses. In 1850 the Bavarian bishops resolved to introduce a common catechism for the entire kingdom, and accepted Deharbe's catechism, which was then introduced in 1853. Other German dioceses adopted it as follows: Cologne, 1854; Mainz and Paderborn, 1855; Fulda, 1858; Ermland, 1861; Culm, 1863; Gnesen-Posen, 1868. At the same time it spread outside of Germany, in Switzerland, Austria-Hungary, and the United States. It was translated in 1851 into Magyar, then into Bohemian, Italian, and French; into Swedish and Marathi, 1861; into Polish and Lithuanian, 1862; into Slovenian, 1868; into Danish, 1869; and later into Spanish and Portuguese. It was reintroduced into Bavaria in 1908. In a revised form, Austria adopted it in 1897.--Wikipedia