Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/736

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RATISBON


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RATISBON


the foundation of numerous monasteries. Gebhard I (995-1035) founded the Abbey of Pruhl; his attempt to annul the separation between the diocese and Emmeram gave rise to much dispute; he received from Otto III the right of coinage. Gebhard III (1036-60) received from Henry III the Abbey of Kempten; during his episcopate the collegiate chap- ter of Ohringen and the convent of Geisenfeld were founded. Otto of Ritenberg (1061-89) espoused the cause of the emperor in the Conflict of Investitures, while Blessed William, provost of St. Emmeram and later abbot of the renowned monastery of Hirsau, the "hero of monasticism and champion of reform", worked in the spirit of Pope Gregory. I'nder Gebhard IV, who received neither papal ratification nor con- secration, the Benedictine abbey of Oberalteich was founded; under Hartwich I (1105-26) were founded the Scots monastery of St. James at Ratisbon, and the Benedictine monasteries of Mallersdorf, Prtjfen- ing, Reichenbach, and Ensdorf; under the zealous Konrad I (1126-32), the Cistercian abbey of Wald- sassen, the Benedictine monastery of Biburg; under Heinrich I (1132-55), the Prenionstratensian monas- tery of Windberg and several chapters of Augustinian Canons. Konrad III (1186-1204) took part in Bar- barossa's crusade; Konrad IV again confirmed the dominion of the bishops over the city of Ratisbon, which in the following period gradually acquired in- dependence and developed into a free town of the empire; in 1226 Konrad gave the recently-founded Franciscan Order a residence and chapel in the city. Under Siegfried the Carmelites and Dominicans also established themselves in the diocese. Prominent among the Franciscans was Blessed Bernhard of Rat- isbon, one of the most powerful preachers of the Middle Ages; the Dominicans gave to the diocese the great bishop, Albertus Magnus, on whose voluntary retirement Leo Thundorfer (1262-77), who began the building of the noble cathedral, was elected. The building was continued vigorously under Heinrich II of Rotteneck (1277-96), who led a truly holy life and proved himself an excellent spiritual and secular prince. Konrad of Luppurg (1296-1313), Nikolaus of Stachowitz (1313-40), and Konrad VI (1368-81) were also distinguished bishops. Albert of Stauf (1409-21), an adherent of the popes of Pisa, devoted himself zealously to the reform of the monasteries and the clergy; in 1419, at a diocesan synod, he issued an excellent pastoral instruction for his diocese. Albert and his immediate successors — Johann of Streitberg (1421-2S) and Konrad VII of Rehlingen (1428-37), a Westphalian — had to take the field against the Huss- ites, who had made several devastating inroads into the territory of the diocese. Heinrich IV of Absberg (1465-92), an admirable bishop, took energetic meas- ures against the Hussites and other fanatics, against the superstitions of the people, and the incontinency of the clergy; to the restoration of discipline and order in the monasteries, expecially in several convents, he devoted a restless activity. In the same spirit worked Rupprecht II, Count Palatine of Sponheim (1492- 1507), under whom the diocese had to suffer much in consequence of the war between the Wittelsbachs con- cerning the succession in Bavaria-Landshut.

The religious innovations of Luther were on the whole successfully opposed by Johann III of the Wittelsbach family, the administrator of the diocese (1507-38); in 1524 he took part in the assembly of the South-German bishops and princes at Ratisbon, which, under the jiresidency of the papal legate Campeggio, decreed the execution of the Edict of Worms and the maintenance of the old religion. I'nder his weak successor Pankraz von Sinzenhofen (15.38-48), however, the new' doctrines were allowed to spread, and this jirelate w:is unable to prevent the town from accepting the Reformation and demol- ishing the cathedral. The negotiations at the Diet


of Ratisbon in 1541 resulted in the Ratisbon Interim, which went very far towards meeting the wishes of the Protestants, but yet did not find approval with the Protestant princes. The efforts of the zealous Georg Marschalk of Pappenheim (1548-63) and David Kolderer of Burgstall (1567-79) met with especially obstinate resistance from the city. LInder Philipp (1579-98), son of Duke William V of Bavaria and afterwards cardinal, the Jesuits were assigned a col- lege at Ratisbon, with which a gymnasium was com- bined in 1589. Wolfgang II von Hausen (1600-13) was a zealous patron of the Jesuits and promoter of Cathohc reform, and joined the Catholic League in 1609. Albert von Torring (1613-59), when the Count Palatine Wolfgang \\'ilhelm became a Catholic in 1614, brought back under his spiritual jurisdiction a portion of the Protestant parishes, especially in the Upper Palatinate; even the town of Eger with its territory was recovered in 1627 for the Catholic faith.

The Thirty Years' War caused great injury to the diocese; Duke Bernhard of Weimar, a partisan of the Swedes, captured the town of Ratisbon and a portion of the diocesan territory in 1633, looted the church treasurj', exacted from the clergy large contributions, and held the bishop in confinement for fourteen months. Franz Wilhelm von Wartenberg (1649-61), who was also Bishop of Osnabriick, Minden, and Ver- den, sought to supply the growing need of priests by founding a clerical seminary in 1653. \\'ith Albert Siegmund (1668-85) began the series of bishops from the House of Wittelsbach, which for nearly a century occupied the episcopal see. Albert was simultaneously Bishop of Freising. as was Joseph Klemens (1685- 1716), who, as Elector of Cologne (from 1688), espoused the cause of Louis XIV in the War of the Spanish Succession, and was for this reason, Uke his brother Elector Max Emmanuel, placed under the imperial ban. Cardinal Johann Theodor (1719-63) occupied, in addition to Ratisbon, the Dioceses of Freising and Liege, and other benefices. Excellent administrators were the last prince-bishops, Anton Ignaz von Fugger (1769-87), iVIax Prokop von Torring (1787-89), and Joseph Konrad von Schroffenberg (1790-1803). On the secularization of the German Church in 1803 a portion of the diocese was left un- disturbed for a time; then Xapoleon named, even dur- ing the hfetime of Schroffenberg, as Archbishop of Ratisbon and Prince-Primate of Germany, Karl Theodor von Dalberg, Elector of Mainz, and assigned him a portion of the earlier ecclesiastical territory. It was only in 1805 that Dalberg received the papal consent to the exercise of archiepiscopal power (1805- 17). Although Dalberg, in his desire to save his pre- carious sovereignty, accepted Cardinal Fesch, Napo- leon's uncle, as coadjutor, he was compelled to sur- render the secular territory of the Diocese of Ratisbon to Bavaria in 1810, whereupon its secularization was finally accomphshed. With Dalberg's death the short-Uved Archdiocese of Ratisbon came to an end.

The Bavarian Concordat of 1817-18 declared Ratis- bon a simple suffragan see in the newly-created eccle- siastical province of Munich-Freising, and assigned to it its present limits. The first bishop of the new diocese was the former coadjutor, Johann Xepomuk von Wolf (1821-29). He was succeeded bv the celebrated Michael Sailer (1829-32). Georg Michael Wittmann, who was named successor to the latter, died before his preconization (1833). Franz Xaver von Schwiibl (1833-41), under whom Diepenbrock (later cardinal) worked at Ratisbon, restored the cathedral. Valentin Riedel (1842-57) founded the boys' seminary at Metten and the priests' hermitage, and jirepared the way for the reform of church music. Ratisbon now po.s.sesses the world-renowned school for the special study of Church music, founded by