Pantaleon Candidus was a theologian of theReformed Church and aNeo-Latin author. He was born on 7 October 1540 inYbbs an der Donau and died on 3 February 1608 inZweibrücken.

Pantaleon Weiss was born the 14th child of a landowning family inLower Austria. When he was 10 he was sent to be educated by Andreas Cupicius, a preacher withProtestant leanings, atWeissenkirchen, and served his teacher when he was imprisoned during the persecutions of that time. The two escaped toHungary, from where Pantaleon returned to continue his education with Vitus Nuber, abbot of Seisenstein, whom he followed when his patron fled to Germany. There he came under the protection ofWolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, from whom he received a scholarship toWittenberg University, where he studied for seven years from 1558. It was during this time that he Latinised his name to Candidus under the influence ofPhilip Melanchthon.

Having served as secretary to theHumanistHubert Languet, and also as a schoolmaster, he eventually ordained as a minister and, having served for a while outside the city, became church superintendent in Zweibrücken in 1571. Formerly the church there had beenLutheran, but following the death of Duke Wolfgang it turned to moderateCalvinism, with the support of Pantaleon.

As well as theological and historical works, he wrote much poetry, including the fable collectionCentum et quinquaginta fabulae (1604).^[1]There the poems are grouped by subject and briefly paraphrase the story, ending with a moral reflection.^[2]

• 16th-century German Protestant theologians
• 16th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians
• German male non-fiction writers
• 16th-century German male writers
• 17th-century German writers
• 17th-century German male writers