FESSLER, Ignaz Aurelius (1756-1839), a celebrated Hungarian ecclesiastic, historian, and freemason, was born on the 18th May 1756 at the village of Zurâny in the county of Moson. His mother, who was a pious Roman Catholic, made every effort to secure for him a strict religious education. On the 9th July 1773 he joined the order of Capuchins as a novice, and in the following year he took the monastic vows, assuming the name of Innocentius. After living in disagreement with his superiors in different monasteries he was transferred to the Capuchin house at Vienna; and while there, by means of a private letter, he drew the attention of the emperor Joseph II. to the irregularities of the monasteries. The searching investigation which followed raised up against him many implacable enemies. Released from the monastery by an imperial decree, he was in 1784 appointed professor of Oriental languages and hermeneutics in the university of Lemberg. In 1787 he brought out his tragedy of Sidney, which his enemies attacked so violently as profane and revolutionary that they compelled him to resign his office and seek refuge in Silesia. In Breslau he met with a cordial reception from Korn the publisher, and was, moreover, subsequently employed by the prince of Carolath as tutor to his sons. In 1791 Fessler was converted to Protestantism, and in 1796 he went to Berlin, where he founded a humanitarian society, and was commissioned by the freemasons of that city to assist Fichte in reforming the statutes and ritual of their lodge. He soon after this obtained a Government appointment in connexion with the newly-acquired Polish provinces, but in consequence of the battle of Jena (1806) he lost this office, and remained in very needy circumstances until 1809, when he was summoned to St ...