Anton Alois Weber

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coat of arms of Bishop Weber

Anton Alois Weber ( Czech Antonín Alois Weber * 24. October 1877 in Wolfsberg , † 12. September 1948 in Leitmeritz ) was Bishop of Litomerice ( Litoměřice ).

Career

Anton Alois Weber was the son of a farmer. After graduating from the Leitmeritz grammar school, he studied theology as a candidate for the priesthood of the Leitmeritz diocese. Bishop Emmanuel Johann Schöbel sent him to Rome for further studies, where he became an alumne of the Collegium Bohemicum. In Rome he acquired the theological doctorate and was ordained a priest there on February 17, 1901 . After returning home, he was a chaplain in Teplitz and later a religion teacher in Aussig . In 1927 he was appointed consistorial councilor in Leitmeritz. In the same year the Pope appointed him resident canon of the Leitmeritz cathedral chapter . Although Weber was impartial on the national question, he did not receive the necessary state confirmation for the office of canon from what was then Czechoslovakia in early 1930.

Bishop of Leitmeritz

After the death of Bishop Josef Gross in Leitmeritz , it took ten months for the Holy See and the Czechoslovak state to agree on Anton Alois Weber's successor. Appointment by Pope Pius XI. followed on November 22, 1931, the episcopal ordination by the Prague Archbishop Karel Kašpar in Prague St. Vitus Cathedral and on December 6 of the same year the enthronement in the Leitmeritz Cathedral.

During his tenure he campaigned for the settlement of national differences and reconciliation between Czechs and Germans. The focus was also on expanding religious education and charitable work. The seminary in Mariaschein was expanded and several churches were built in the Sprengel.

The 1938 Munich Agreement exacerbated national differences. The National Socialists confiscated the seminaries in Leitmeritz and Mariaschein, and the bishop also had to vacate his residence. He was forbidden to visit the parishes of the Protectorate in his district . Nevertheless, as a German, he should be resettled after the end of the war. However, he managed to stay and exercise his office. Because of the political reprisals he resigned on January 28, 1947. Pope Pius XII. appointed him titular Archbishop of Samos in the same year . After his death he was buried in the bishop's vault in the Leitmeritz cemetery.

After the political change in 1989, on October 28, 1995, Václav Havel , the then President of the Czech Republic , posthumously awarded Anton Alois Weber the state order named after Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk .

Fonts

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Josef Gross Bishop of Leitmeritz
1931–1947 		Štěpán Trochta
personal data
SURNAME Weber, Anton Alois
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weber, Antonín Alois
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Leitmeritz
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Wolfsberg
DATE OF DEATH September 12, 1948
Place of death Leitmeritz