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[German Version] (Pope Mar 2, 1939 – Oct 9, 1958; Eugenio Pacelli, born Mar 2, 1876, Rome, died in Castel Gandolfo). After more than two centuries the city of Rome once again had a native Roman as its bishop – and pope. Pacelli grew up in a family of jurisprudents closely connected with the papacy. The network of relationships within which his grandfather and father served as curial officials secured the talented young man effective career promotion from an early age. Before ordination to the prie…

[German Version] (Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; born Jun 2, 1835, Riese, Trevisio; pope Aug 4, 1903 – Aug 28, 1914). On the basis of the many internal reforms accomplished during his pontificate, Pius X must be considered a reforming pope (albeit conservative), distinguished for his personal virtues and a serious desire for greater religious depth. At the same time, severe diplomatic blunders in the political sphere and the crisis of Roman Catholic antimodernism, which reached its peak during his pon…

[German Version] (Pope Feb 6, 1922 – Feb 10, 1939; Achille Ratti, born May 31, 1857, Desio, near Monza), son of a middle-class Lombard family, Ratti began his theological studies in Milan, then entered the Lombard College in Rome, where he attended the universities of the Jesuits and Dominicans. After ordination to the priesthood (1879) and doctoral study, he returned the Milan seminary at the age of 25, where he taught dogmatic theology and homiletics for four years. Accepted in 1888 into the doc…

[German Version] (Nov 4, 1774, Dresden – Aug 9, 1860, Constance), pastoral reformer committed to the cultural ideals of the Catholic ¶ Enlightenment (II, 4.f). Wessenberg was the son of an aristocratic Breisgau family, destined for a career in the church. As was standard practice in the church within the Empire, he was admitted to minor orders in 1785 and assigned a living as a cathedral canon in 1791/1792. During studies at Dillingen (from 1792), Würzburg (from 1794), and Vienna (from 1796), he ca…

[German Version] (Feb 7, 1861, Wipperfeld – Jan 31, 1931, Ahrweiler), Catholic moral theologian. From 1892, he was professor of moral theology and apologetics in Münster. In an autobiographical sketch (in: E. Stange, ed., Die Religionswissenschaft der Gegenwart in Selbstdarstellungen, 1927, 57–89) Mausbach mentions four emphases in his life: (1) in the context of his teaching and publishing activity, he argued against the casuistic method and for a stronger theological approach to his field. Through the integration of biblical, ascet…

[German Version] (Apr 6, 1809, Vienna – Mar 27, 1885, Vienna), of Bohemian high nobility, 1836 archbishop of Saltzburg, 1842 cardinal, 1850 archbishop of Prague, where he was involved in the struggle of the nationalities for equality in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Schwarzenberg was sympathetic to the intellectual openness of A. Günther and his ideas on church reform; he also opposed the monopolization of theology by Neoscholasticism. From the outset less disposed toward Ultramontanism than many, at Vatican I he became a leader of the minority (Papacy: III, 4). Günther Wassilowsky Bi…

[German Version] (pope Oct 28, 1958 – Jun 3, 1963; Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, b. Nov 25, 1881, Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo), came from a large farming family. After studying in Bergamo and Rome and being ordained priest in 1904, Roncalli was, until 1914, secretary to his local bishop G. Radini Tedeschi, who ¶ remained his pastoral model for the rest of his life. During these years, Roncalli also began his work in church history, including the edition of the visitation documents of C. Borromeo. Although Roncalli rendered political service to the Vat…

[German Version] (Mar 1, 1835, Meckenheim, near Bonn – Jul 21, 1888, Cologne), Catholic dogmatic theologian, in the judgment of K. Barth “the greatest the Roman Catholic Church has produced on German soil in the modern era” (E. Busch, Karl Barths Lebenslauf, 1975, 428; ET: Karl Barth: His Life from Letters and Autobiographical Texts, 1976). While he was studying at the Gregorianum (1852–1859), Scheeben’s theology was given its anti-rationalist bent (against A. Günther and G. Hermes) – emphasizing the supernatural character of the act of faith and …

[German Version] (Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci, born Aug 2, 1810, Carpineto; pope Feb 20, 1878 – Jul 20, 1903). In the history of the papacy, Leo will be remembered above all as a political realist and the author of the first official Catholic social ethics (Catholic social teaching); his international diplomacy earned him his reputation as “the most significant pope of the 19th century” (Schwaiger). In the wake of the intransigent opposition of his predecessor Pius IX to the states that had emerged …

[German Version] (Jul 17, 1897, Oberbaar – Dec 8, 1993, Gauting), Catholic theologian. After receiving his doctorate ( Die psychologische Trinitätslehre des heiligen Augustinus, 1927, 21967) and habilitation, he taught in Prague (from 1929), Münster (from 1933), and Munich (1946–1965); in Munich he founded the Grabmann Institute (named after his teacher, M. Grabmann) for the study of medieval theology and philosophy in 1954. His monumental, widely influential Katholische Dogmatik (1938–1941; several revisions, 61960–1964) set itself apart from contemporary Neoschola…

[German Version] (Sep 23, 1892, Halle an der Saale – Apr 1, 1975, Paderborn), since 1941 archbishop of Paderborn, was named cardinal in 1965, and retired from office in 1973. Jaeger's significance urging the Catholic Church's participation in the ecumenical movement is undisputed. Two institutions trace their foundation essentially to him. In 1946, together with W. Stählin, Jaeger initiated the Ökumenischer Arbeitskreis evangelischer und katholischer Theologen (ÖAK) and, in 1957, the Johann Adam M…

[German Version] (Jul 29, 1787, Geppersdorf [Linhartovy] – Mar 25, 1871, Berlin), of Moravian-Silesian nobility. After holding positions in both the bishopric and the state school system, at the instigation of the Prussian government he was elected prince bishop of Breslau in 1835 and was consecrated in 1836. His stance in the Prussian Church Dispute led to a confrontation with the diocesan clergy and with Rome: Sedlnitzki, an ecumenically minded supporter of the state church, wanted to maintain t…

[German Version] (Apr 9, 1811, Dortmund, Germany – Jan 13, 1883, St. Anton, Austria), Catholic philosopher and theologian and a member of the Society of Jesus from 1834. After studying philosophy, classical philology, and theology, Kleutgen was resident primarily in Rome from 1847 onward, fulfilling functions in his order and teaching rhetoric in the Collegium Germanicum. As an author, consultant for the Index Congregation (1850–1862, Index Librorum Prohibitorum ), and as a theologian at Vatican I, he contributed significantly to the establish…

[German Version] (Apr 8, 1695, Strzegom [Ger. Striegau], Poland – Mar 15, 1723, Jena), a poet of the transition period between Baroque and the Enlightenment. During his short and unsteady life (Protestant grammar school in Schweidnitz from 1710 to 1715, from 1715 study of medicine in Frankfurt an der Oder and Wittenberg, relocation to Leipzig in 1717, from 1720 short stays in Silesian towns with changing patrons) Günther managed to produce more than 600 ¶ poems, letters, and one drama under the pressure of permanent existential precariousness. The elaborate rhetorical…

[German Version] I. Early Church – II. Middle Ages and Reformation – III. Modern Period and Today – IV. Chronological List of the Popes I. Early Church 1. Definition. If papacy is defined as the claim (based on Matt 16:16–19; 28:20; Luke 22:31f.; John 21:15–19) of the bishops of Rome as successors and heirs to Peter to leadership along with jurisdictional and magisterial primacy (I) within the universal church, papacy in the strict sense dates only from the Middle Ages in the Latin West. In the Early Church, the point at iss…

[German Version] Aug 26, 1978 – Sep 28, 1978 (Albino Luciani, born Oct 17, 1912, Canale d'Agordo, Veneto). Luciani was from a northern Italian working-class family. In 1935, he was ordained priest for the diocese of Belluno, and became subregens (vice-director) of the seminary there in 1937. In 1947, he submitted his theological dissertation on A. Rosmini-Serbati at the Gregoriana in Rome, and became vicar general in 1948. As bishop of Vittorio Veneto (1958) and patriarch of Venice (1969), he was primarily interested in social and pa…