Augustin Theiner

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Augustin Theiner,

Breslau – 8 August 1874, in Civitavecchia
) was a German theologian and historian.

Disquisitiones criticae in praecipuas canonum et decretalium collectiones, 1836

He was the son of a

Canon law
. He finally went to Rome, where he settled permanently.

Here, under the influence of

Oratory of St. Philip Neri
.

In the succeeding years he wrote the following works:

  • Die neuesten Zustände der kath. Kirche in Polen und Russland (1841)
  • Die Rückkehr der regierenden Hauser Braunschweig und Sachsen zur kath. Kirche (1843)
  • Zustände der kath. Kirche in Schlesien 1740-58 (1846)
  • Kardinal Frankenberg (1850)

He was commissioned by Pope Pius IX, who had given him a position in the Vatican Library in 1850, to write the Geschichte des Pontifikats Klemens XIV (1853; Italian translation, 1855). In this work he showed himself an opponent of the Jesuits, with whom he had been on good terms until 1844, so that the work was forbidden in the States of the Church.

In 1855, Pius IX appointed Theiner as Prefect of the

Vatican secret archives
. He now published his collections of authorities drawn from these:

  • Die Fortsetzung der Annalen des Baronius (3 vols., 1856)
  • Vetera monumenta Hungariae (2 vols., 1859–60)
  • Poloniae et Lithuaniae (4 vols., 1860–64)
  • Slavorum meridionalium (2 vols., 1863)
  • Hibernorum et Scotorum (1864)
  • Codex dominii temporalis apostolicae sedis (3 vols., 1861–62)
  • Monumenta spectantia ad unionem ecclesiarum Graecae et Romanae (1872).

Both before and during the First Vatican Council he was in close connection with the opponents of papal infallibility. Because he communicated to them the order of business of the Council, that had been kept secret, he was deposed from his dignities and offices.

Whether he died at peace with the Church is questionable. His correspondence with the

Old Catholic scholar, Johann Friedrich, during the years 1870-73 shows that he held the same views as the latter; on the other hand Count Hermann Stainlein asserts that he knew Theiner during this period as a loyal Catholic priest. In any event, he was buried at the Teutonic Cemetery, adjacent to St. Peter's Basilica, which is reserved for German-speaking residents of the city in service to the institutions of the Catholic Church.[1]

There is no doubt as to his large scholarship and his services to history. After his death appeared the work, Acta genuina Concilii Tridentini (1874), very imperfectly edited.

Works

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainHerbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Augustin Theiner". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.