PASSAU
520
PASSAU
haviiiK liiTii burned down in 12S1, ho built a new cu-
tlu'ilnil which hislcl until Ui()2. AIIhiI 111 von VVinkcl
(13ti.'i-St)) \v;is particularly active in the strugslo with
the burghers and in resislint; the robher-knights. The
Black Death visited the bishopric under (lotlfried II
von Weitzenbeck (13 f2-li2). George- 1 von Ilohenlohe
(KiSS-llL'l), who, after 1418, was imperial chancellor,
energeticallv opposed the Hussites. During the time
of ririeh ll"l von Nussdorf (Mol-TO) the diocese suf-
fered its lirst great curtailment by the formation of the
new Diocese of Vienna (14(jS). 'i'his diocese was after-
warils further enlarged at the expense of Passau by
Sixtus IV. Towards the close of the fifteenth century
the conflict between an Austrian candidate for the see
and a Bavarian brought about a state of war in the
diocese.
The Reformation was kept out of all the Bavarian part of the dioce-se, except the Count ship of Orten- burg, by the efforts of Ernest of Bavaria who, though never consecrated, ruled the diocese from 1517 to 1.541. The new heresy found many adherents, however, in the Austrian portion. Wolfgang I Count of Sahn (1540-.5.5) and Urban von Trennbach (1561-98) led the counter-Reformation. Under Wolfgang the Peace of Passau was concluded, in the summer of 1552 (see Charles V). The last Bavarian prince-bishop was Urban, who in his struggles during the Reformation received substantial aid for the Austrian part of the diocese from Albert V, Duke of Bavaria, and, after 1576, from Emperor Rudolph II. All the successors of Urban were Austrians. Bishop Leopold I (1598- 1625) (also Bishop of Strasburg after 1607) was one of the first to enter the Catholic League of 1609. In the Thirty Years' War he was loyal to his brother. Em- peror Ferdinand II. Leopold II Wilhelm (162.5-62), son of Ferdinand II, a pious prince and a great bene- factor of the City of Passau, especially after the great conflagration of 1682, finally united five bishoprics. Count Wenzelaus von Thun (1664-73) began the new cathedral which wm completed thirty years later by Paul Philip of Lamberg. He and his nephew Joseph Dominicus, his mediate successor (1723-62), became cardinals. When Vienna was raised to an archdio- cese in 1722, he relinquished the parishes beyond the Viennese Forest, hence was exempted from the metro- politan authority of Salzburg, and obtained the pallium for himself and his successors. Leopold Ernst, Count of Firmian (1763-83), created cardinal in 1772, estab- lished an institute of theology at Passau and, after the suppression of the Jesuits, founded a lyceum. Under Joseph, Count of Auersperg (1783-95), Em- peror Joseph II took away two-thirds of the diocese to form the two dioceses of Linz and St. Polten (see LiNz). The last prince-bishop, Leopold von Thun (179(i-1826), saw the .secularization of the old bish- opric in 1803; the City of Passau and the temporalities on the left bank of the Inn and the right bank of the llz w(mt to Bavaria, wdiile the territory on the left banks of the Danube and of the llz went to the Grand Duchy of Tu.scany and afterwards to Austria. On 22 February, 1803, when the Bavarians marched into Piissau, the prince-bishop withdrew to his estates in Bohemia, and never revisited his former residence.
By the Concordat of 1818, the diocese was given the boundaries which it still ha.s. After the death of the lii-st i)rince-bishop, Passau's exemption from metro- politan power ceased, and the diocese became suffra- gan of Munich-Frei.sing. Bishop Charles Joseph von Riccabona (1820-38) turned his attention to the care of the rising generation of clergy. With the support of King Ixjuis I, he founded a preparatory course and then reopened the lyceum with a faculty of law and of theology. Henry von Hofstiitter (1839-75) estab- lished a complete theological seminary, and a school for boys. The former of these found a great benefac- tor in Bishop Franz von Weckert (1875-79); the latter, in Michael von Ilampf (1889-1901), who for
sixteen years h.ad been vicar-general of the Archdio-
cese of ^lunich-l'riising. lie was followed by Anto-
nius von 'I'hoiiia (iM arch-October, 1889), who was
promoted to the archiepiscopal See of Munieli, and
succeeded by Antonius von Ilenle (1901-l)t;), who was
transferred to Ratisbon. The ])n'scnt diocesan, Sigis-
niiuid Felix von ()w-lelldorf, was ai)iiointcd 11 Jan-
uary, 1906, aii<l consecrated on 24 I'ebruary, 1906.
Actual Ciinditio.ns. — The diocese is <hvided into a city connnission anil 19 rural deaneries. In 1910 it numbered 222 parishes, and 102 other benefices and (Xiiosiliinii, 607 clerics, of whom 219 were parish priests, 49 were eng.aged at the cathedral and in dio- cesan edui-ational institutions, and t)7 were regulars. The resilient Catholic jKjpulation was 354,200 The cathedral chai)ter consists of a catheilral provost, a dean, 8 canons, 6 vicars, 1 preacher, and 1 pre- centor (DomkapeUmeister) . The diocesan institu- tions are the seminary for clerics, dedicated to St. Stephen, with 95 alumni, and the boys' seminary at Passau; the state institutions are a gymnasium at Passau, 2 homes for priests, 1 home for super- annuated priests. There is a state lyceum at Passau with 8 religious professors, where candidates for the priesthood study philosophy and theology. The following orders and congregations were estab- lished in the diocese: Benedictine Missionaries of St. Ottilien, a missionary seminary with 9 fathers and 20 brothers; Capuchins, 5 monasteries, 54 fathers, 24 tertiary clerics, and 65 lay brothers; Redemptorists, 1 monastery with 3 fathers and 3 brothers. Fe- male orders: Benedictines, 1 convent, 46 sisters; Cistercians, 1 house, 48 sisters; English Ladies, 3 mother-houses, 30 affiliated institutions, 866 mem- bers; Poor School Sisters of Notre Dame, from the mother-house at Mrmich, 7 institutions, with 35 sis- ters; Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul from the mother-house at Munich, 18 houses with 79 sis- ters; Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer, from Nei- derbronn, Alsace, 2 institutions with 9 sisters; Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, from Mallersdorf, Lower Bavaria, 25 institutions with 125 sisters. The English Ladies and the School Sisters devote them- selves to the education of girls, while those in most of the remaining institutions of the diocese (the Benedic- tines and Cistercians being contemplatives) are occu- pied with the care of the sick. Among the pious organ- izations of the diocese may be mentioned the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Society of St. Elizabeth, the Brotherhood for the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Society of St. Cecilia, the Societies of Catholic Workmen, the Volksvercin of Catholic Germany. The most important Catholic periodicals are "Die Donauzeitung" and "Die Theo- logisch-praktische Monatschrift", both published at Passau.
The cathedral, with the exception of the choir and the transept built in 1407. was rebuilt after the fire of 1662 by the Italians Lorago and Carlone, in the baroque style; its two towers were tini.shed in 18915-98 by Heinr. von Schmidt. From Gothic times date the parish church of the city of N<-uiitting (14.50-80), the cathedral at Altotting (fourteenth and fifteenth cen- turies) with the tombs of Karlmann and of I'illy, the Herrenkapelle near the cathedral at Passau (1414); Renaissance and Baroque are the former Cistercian church at Aldersbach (1700-34), the Church of the Premonstratensians at Osterhofen (completed in 1740), the parish church at Niederalteich, formerly the church of a Benedictine abbey (1718-26). The dio- cese contains the most famous place of pilgrimage in all Bavaria: the Chapel of Our Lady at Altotting, which is visited each year by from 200,000 to 300,000 pilgrims. In this chapel the hearts of the Bavarian royal family have been preserved opposite the miracu- lous picture, since the time of the Elector Maximil- ian 1.
