10 Facts About Johannes Kelpius

Johannes Kelpius was a German Pietist, mystic, musician, and writer.

Johannes Kelpius was interested in the occult, botany, and astronomy.

The so-called Cave of Johannes Kelpius is located by a small tributary stream of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia's present-day 1,372-acre Wissahickon Valley Park.

Johannes Kelpius became a follower of Johann Jacob Zimmermann, a mathematician, astronomer, and cleric, whose pastoral position had ended in 1685 due to his prediction of the imminent advent of a heavenly kingdom, as well as his criticism of the state church.

Little is known of his death except for an account from years later which states that Johannes Kelpius had believed that he would not suffer physical death, but be translated to another existence.

Johannes Kelpius's literary legacy is a collection of original hymns, a journal that includes many of his correspondences, and a book on prayer and meditation, A Short, Easy, and Comprehensive Method of Prayer, first published in English in 1761, and republished in 1951.

Johannes Kelpius was the subject of one of the first oil portraits in the thirteen British colonies; the painting was by Christopher Witt and was housed in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, home to Johannes Kelpius's journal, two collections of his original hymns, and other research source material.

Johannes Kelpius was a musician, and he and his followers took with them instruments that became an integral part of church life.

Johannes Kelpius was a composer, and is sometimes called the first Pennsylvanian composer, based on his unproven authorship of several hymns in The Lamenting Voice of the Hidden Love.

Johannes Kelpius has featured in a few scattered references in literature.