The Catholic clergyman, preacher and writer (1644-1709), whose civil name was Johann Ullrich Megerle, entered the Roman Catholic Augustinian order in Maria-Brunn near Wien in 1662. He was ordained priest in 1668 and became court preacher to Emperor Leopold I in 1677. He was ordained priest in 1668, became court preacher to Emperor Leopold I. in 1677, and was ordained priest in 1677. (1640-1705) and developed into a feared pulpit orator with immense popularity. He castigated the sinful enjoyment of life and repeatedly railed from the pulpit against the bad habit of "boozing". He wrote the famous epistle "Der Sauffnarr" ("The Drunken Fool") about this, in which the horrors of drunkenness and alcoholism as well as the accompanying moral decay are described:
O drunkenness, thou heavy addiction, bring many a man into great fornication.
From honour and property, into mockery and disgrace, from wife and child into foreign lands.
From art and wisdom into great folly, from a healthy body into great sickness.
From joy and delight to the vale of tears, from food and drink to hunger and torment.
From peace and rest to fear and distress, from long life to death.
From the kingdom of God to eternal sorrow, all this comes from drunkenness.
Think well of your last hour, and you will not get drunk.
No jester's bells are so perceived as those which the drunken jester performs,
that makes himself conspicuous in all the streets, so that tomorrow the whole parish may discuss it.
That is rare - that is true - my drunken fool!
As a warning example, he liked to tell the well-known story of a balladeer who fell into a plague pit while drunk and intoxicated. He did not mention a name, but could have meant the famous Viennese balladeer Lieber Augustin (1645-1685). The preacher, however, was not fundamentally against the consumption of wine, but only recommended moderation and understanding: " Wine is a medicine, but if it is drunk without a manner, it is a poison. Wine is a refreshment of the heart, but if it is drunk carelessly, it is a death of the soul.
The preacher himself liked to drink beer. He was obviously not always satisfied with it, however, for he reprimanded the Augsburg brewers' guild with the following scathing words: " With many a brewer, however, one finds such weak beer that the raindrops, provided they only make their way over the roof shingles, have a better strength in them. One also finds some who make such a dissolute drink that it is more harmful than useful and often dwells in the human body no better than a regiment of hussars in a country. On this topic, see also drinking culture and Wien.
Picture left: By Abraham a Sancta Clara, Link
Picture right: By Wolfgang Sauber - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
