Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim

Febronius

Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim (January 27, 1701 – September 2, 1790) was a German priest and coadjutor bishop of Trier, and a historian/theologian. He is remembered as Febronius, the pseudonym under which he wrote his 1763 treatise On the State of the Church and the Legitimate Power of the Roman Pontiff and which gave rise to febronianism.