Background
He was born at Hayn, near Dresden, into a Catholic family.
He was born at Hayn, near Dresden, into a Catholic family.
He studied at Meissen, Leipzig, and Wittenberg.
In English he is often called Valentine Weigel. In 1567 he became a Lutheran pastor at Zschopau, near Chemnitz. There, he lived out a quiet life, engaged in his writings.
Weigel was best known for his belief that the Virgin Mary was herself the product of a virgin birth.
He based his belief on the idea of the immaculate conception, which required that Mary must also be sinless in order to bear God in the flesh. He kept his ideas secret, entrusting them only to personal friends (in contrast to Jakob Böhme).
He carried out his parishioner duties and kept a low profile. He left around 6000 pages in printed or manuscript works.
His ideas on human nature were only gradually and posthumously published.
Johann Arndt, Gottfried Arnold, and Gottfried Leibniz helped to spread Weigel"s ideas. Like these two latter, he emphasized the inner life. He advocated a "spiritual church" in which one could know Christ without books or scripture.