Joseph Hergenröther
University of Münich |
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Joseph Hergenröther (15 September 1824 – 3 October 1890) was a German Church historian and
Biography
Born in Würzburg, he was the second son of Johann Jacob Hergenröther, professor of medicine in the University of Würzburg. In 1842 Hergenröther completed with notable success his gymnasium course in his native town, and entered the University of Würzburg to take up a two-year course of philosophical studies, to which he added certain branches of theology. His historical tendencies exhibited themselves at this early age in a dramatic poem entitled Papst Gregor VII (Würzburg, 1841).
Bishop von Stahl took an interest in him, and in 1844 sent him to the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum at Rome, whither he had already sent Heinrich Joseph Dominicus Denzinger and Franz Hettinger. Among his scholarly teachers were Giovanni Perrone and Carlo Passaglia in doctrinal theology, Tomei in moral theology, Antonio Ballerini in church history, Francis Xavier Patrizi in Scriptural exegesis, and Marzio in canon law.
The political troubles of 1848 prevented the completion of his theological studies at Rome; he was ordained to the priesthood 28 March of that year, and returned to Würzburg, where he pursued his ecclesiastical preparation for another year. In 1849 he was appointed chaplain at
In 1852 he was called to Würzburg, as professor extraordinary of canon law and church history; after three years (1855) he was promoted to the full possession of that chair. To his other duties he added the teaching of
Hergenröther was often honoured by election to the office of dean of his faculty, and occasionally to the University Senate; the latter office he never held after 1871, because of his opposition to
Hergenröther was especially interested in the career of
In 1860 appeared at Paris the
While professor of canon law at Würzburg, Hergenröther published several important historico-canonical essays on such subjects as early ecclesiastical reordinations (Ester, Vierteljahrsch. f. kath. Theol., 1862), the canonical relations of the various rites in the Catholic Church (Archiv f. kath. Kirchenrecht, 1862), the politico-ecclesiastical relations of Spain and the Holy See (ibid., 1863–66), and the canon law of the Greeks to the end of the ninth century (ibid., 1870). His interest in the ecclesiastical vicissitudes of his own day was manifested by valuable essays on the States of the Church after the French Revolution (Hist.-polit. Blätter, 1859), spirit of the age (Zeitgeist) and papal sovereignty (Der Katholik, 1861), and the Franco-Sardinian Treaty (Frankfort, 1865). Among his historico-apologetic essays are his treatises on the errors condemned by the Holy See in the Encyclical (Syllabus) of 8 December 1864 (in the Chilianeum, 1865), the veneration of the Blessed Virgin in the first ten centuries of the Christian Era (Münster, 1870).
He was a regular contributor of similar but briefer articles to the Würzburg periodicals, "Die katholische Wochenschrift" and the "Chilianeum". Hergenröther was constantly engaged in attempting to develop a genuine Catholic sentiment and truly Christian life among the faithful. He preached frequently, and was always a welcome speaker at the general assemblies of the German Catholic associations (Vereine; 1863–77). For the Fulda meeting of the Prussian bishops (1870) he prepared an exhaustive historical study on the spoliation of the Papal States, in which he developed at length the arguments for the temporal power of the papacy.
At Munich he gained the reputation of being one of the most learned theologians on the
The opening of the Vatican Council (1870) brought to a head the domestic conflict in Germany. Hergenröther was the foremost defender of the council and its decrees; as early as 1868 he had been appointed, with Hettinger, consultor for the preparation of the council's work and had taken up his residence at Rome. His knowledge of ecclesiastical history, canon law, and Catholic dogma made him a valuable co-labourer in the many careful and detailed preliminary meetings of the council commission. In the meantime he prepared, with Hettinger, and published in the "Chilianeum" (1869) a memorial of the theological faculty of Würzburg in reply to five questions, submitted by the Bavarian Government, concerning the approaching council. He also published (Der Katholik, 1871) another outlined memorial concerning the Vatican Council, in reply to eleven questions submitted by the Bavarian Minister of Worship to the theological and law faculties of Würzburg. This memorial, though projected, was never formally called for by the Government.
The opposition to the Vatican Council reached its acme in the work Der Papst und das Concil, by "Janus" (Döllinger). In the same year (1869) Hergenröther prepared his "Anti-Janus", an historico-theological critique (Freiburg, 1870). He also published a number of small brochures in favour of the council and against Döllinger, e. g. "Die Irrthümer logischer Censor" (Freiburg, 1870), and a critique of Dr. Döllinger's declaration of 28 March 1871 (Freiburg, 1871). His pen was also active in the "Historisch-politische Blätter", where he published (1870) a series of articles on the "Allgemeine Zeitung" and its letters from the council, on papal infallibility before the Vatican Council, and on ancient Gallicans and modern Appellants. In 1871 he published the solid study "Das unfehlbare Lehrant des Papstes" [The Infallible Magisterium (teaching office) of the pope, Passau, 1871]. These grave and exhausting labours were crowned and partially summarized by a new work, Katholische Kirche u. christlicher Staat in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwicklung u. in Beziehung auf die Gegenwart (The Catholic Church and the Christian State, in their historical development and their relations to the present), together with an "Anti-Janus vindicatus" (Freiburg, 1872, 2nd annotated ed., Freiburg, 1876). The former is a thesaurus of information concerning politico-ecclesiastical conflicts of the past, and is marked throughout by an uncompromising tone. It was translated into Italian (Pavia, 1877) and into English (London, 1876; Baltimore, 1889).
He published his Handbuch der allgemeinen Kirchengeschichte (Manual of General Church History) in the "theological Library" of Herder (Freiburg, 1876). A second annotated edition appeared in 1879; in 1880 a third volume was added, containing the notes and documentary evidence. This work was then and remains yet unsurpassed for abundance of information, accuracy of narrative, and manifold sources of historical proof. A third edition appeared (1884–86), in which the notes are no longer printed apart, but accompany the text. The writer of this article is the editor of a fourth edition (3 vols., Freiburg, 1902-1909). When it was proposed to bring out a new edition of the "Kirchenlexikon" of Wetzer and Welte, Hergenröther was naturally suggested as the savant most capable of executing this gigantic task. He accepted it, but was compelled to abandon it when scarcely begun; his elevation to the dignity of cardinal with the obligation of a Roman residence, left him no freedom for the enterprise. The first volume contains many articles from his pen, some of them quite lengthy. He was unable to do as much for the other volumes–in all there are eighty-seven articles signed by him. Other minor literary tasks consumed his spare hours in the last period of his life at Würzburg. The various subjects were Pius IX (Würzburg, 1876); Athanasius the Great (Cologne, 1876); Cardinal Maury in "Katholische Studien" (Würzburg, 1878); a short history of the popes (Würzburg, 1878); the vow of poverty among the Oriental monks in "Archiv f. kath. Kirchenrecht" (1877); the canonical significance of nomination (ibid., 1878). Hergenröther's works in the departments of church history and canon law, and his firm attitude on the great ecclesiastical questions of the day, won for him the confidence of all the bishops and Catholic scholars of Germany.
In 1877 Pius IX had recognized his services to the Vatican Council and the ecclesiastical sciences by making him a
Cardinal Hergenröther undertook another work of the most exacting nature, the continuation of
He suffered much in the last years of his life, as the result of an apoplectic attack which crippled him grievously though it did not affect the brightness and vigour of his intellect. He was able to keep up his literary labours to the day of his death. During the summer vacation of 1890 he took up his residence in the Cistercian Abbey of Mehrerau (on the Bodensee) the hospitality of which he had more than once enjoyed. In this secluded spot he met with another apoplectic stroke, and died. He was laid to rest in the church of the abbey. In 1897 a suitable monument was erected to his memory by his friends, and dedicated (25 March).
He was a stanch supporter of the infallibility dogma. In 1870 he wrote Anti-Janus, an answer to The Pope and the Council, by Janus (Ignaz von Döllinger and Johann Friedrich), which made a great sensation at the time. In 1877 he was made prelate of the papal household; he became cardinal deacon in 1879, and was afterwards made curator of the Vatican archives.
He died in
in 1890.His portrait was apparently painted by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862-1947) during the two years he spent studying in Italy 1882-1884, and was probably signed Ad. Muller. Its present whereabouts is unknown.
Works
Of Hergenröther's other works, the most important are:
- his history of the Papal States since the Revolution (Der Kirchenstaat seit der französischen Revolution, Freiburg i. B., 1860; Fr. trans., Leipzig, 1860)
- his great work on the relations of church and state (Katholische Kirche und christlicher Staat in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwickelung und in Beziehung auf Fragen der Gegenwart, 2 parts, Freiburg i. B., 1872; 2nd ed. expanded, 1876; Eng. trans., London, 1876, Baltimore, 1889)
- his universal church history (Handbuch der allgemeinen Kirchengeschichte, 3 vols, Freiburg i. B., 1876-1880; 2nd ed., 1879, etc.; 3rd ed., 1884-1886; 4th ed., by Peter Kirsch, 1902, etc.; French trans., Paris, 1880, etc.)
He also found time for a while to edit the new edition of Wetzer and Welte's Kirchenlexikon (1877), to superintend the publication of part of the Regesta of Pope Leo X (Freiburg i. B., 1884-1885), and to add two volumes to Karl Josef von Hefele's Conciliengeschichte (ib., 1887 and 1890).
Notes
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2011) |
- ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Joseph Hergenrother". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
- ^ Patrologia Graeca, CI-CIV.
- ^ Hans Dieter Betz, Don S. Browning, Bernd Janowski, Religion past & present: encyclopedia of theology and religion, Brill, 1999.
References
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Joseph Hergenröther". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hergenröther, Joseph von". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
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