Joseph Anton Sambuga was a German theologian of Italian descent. He was a pious, deeply-religious priest and belonged to the school of Johann Michael Sailer whose friend he was.
He was born at Walldorf near Heidelberg on 9 June; 1752. His parents were Italians who had come from the neighbourhood of Como. He went to school at Mannheim and to the monastic school of the Augustinians at Wiesloch and then entered the University of Heidelberg.
In 1770 family affairs took him to Italy where he finished his theological studies and was ordained priest at Como on 2 April 1774. After he had laboured at Como for a while as chaplain at the hospital he returned to Germany and in 1775 was made chaplain at Helmsheim, in 1778 chaplain and in 1783 court preacher at Mannheim, in 1785 parish priest at Herrnsheim.
In 1797 he was again called to the Court at Mannheim as teacher of religion to Prince Louis (later King Ludwig I of Bavaria), the oldest son of Duke Maximilian Joseph. When Maximilian Joseph went to live at Munich as Elector of Bavaria (from 1806 King Maximilian I), Sambuga followed the Court to that city and was later the teacher of religion to the younger children of the Elector also. He died at Nymphenburg near the Bavarian capital Munich]] - on 5 June according to Sailer, but 5 January according to other statements- in 1815.
Among his writings should be mentioned: "Schutzrede für den ehelosen Stand der Geistlichen" (Frankenthal, 1782; 2nd ed., Munich, 1827); "Ueber den Philosophismus, welcher unser Zeitalter bedroht" (Munich, 1805); "Ueber die Nothwendigkeit der Besserung, als Rücksprache mit seinem Zeitalter" (2 vols., Munich, 1807); "Untersuchung über das Wesen der Kirche" (Linz and Munich, 1809); "Der Priester am Altare" (Munich, 1815; 3d ed., 1819). There were published after his death: "Sammlung verschiedener Gedanken über verschiedene Gegenstände", ed. by Franz Stapf (Munich, 1818); "Auserlesene Briefe", ed. by Karl Klein (Munich, 1818); "Zweite Sammlung", ed. by Franz Stapf (1819); "Predigten auf Sonn-und Festtage", ed. by K. Klein (Mannheim, 1822); "Reden und Aufsätze", collected and ed. by J. B. SchmitterHug (Lindau, 1834).