Anthony of Thoma

Bishop Antonius von Thoma

Grave monument for Archbishop Antonius von Thoma, Liebfrauenkirche Munich, created by Heinrich Waderé , magazine for Christian art, 1908

Antonius (von) Thoma (born March 1, 1829 in Nymphenburg , † November 24, 1897 in Munich ) was Bishop of Passau and Archbishop of Munich and Freising .

Life

Born as the son of the ducal body hunter Berthold Thoma and his wife Kunigunde, he lost his parents at an early age. Friends of his parents took care of his upbringing and training. Thoma attended schools in the Scheyern and Metten monasteries and graduated from Freising grammar school in 1848 . As a scholarship holder, he then studied Catholic theology and philosophy in Munich . During his studies in 1848 he became a member of the Algovia Munich fraternity . From 1852 to 1853 he was an alumnus of the clerical seminary in Freising.

On June 29, 1853 he was ordained a priest in Freising. From 1853 he worked as a coadjutor in Teisendorf . In 1860 he came to Munich as a cooperator . In 1867 he took over the parish of St. Zeno in Reichenhall ; In addition to pastoral care, he headed the local monastery and educational institute of the English Misses. Since 1878 he was the pastor of the Holy Spirit in Munich. In 1883 he was appointed Cathedral Capitular and Vicar of the Cathedral.

On March 24, 1889, Thoma was appointed Bishop of Passau and consecrated on July 28 by Archbishop Antonius von Steichele in Passau Cathedral. During his short term in office, he initiated the return of the Capuchins to the Mariahilf pilgrimage church and the establishment of a boys' college in Burghausen .

After just seven months, on October 23, he was recalled and appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising by Prince Regent Luitpold to succeed the late Archbishop of Steichele. With the award of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown , he was raised to the Bavarian personal knighthood in 1889 . In 1891 he received the commander of this order. He was Grand Cross Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem as well as Comes Romanus ( Roman Count ), House Prelate and Papal Assistant to the Throne and Imperial Councilor of the Crown of Bavaria .

Archbishop Antonius von Thoma died on November 24, 1897 in his Munich residence and is buried in the Munich Cathedral of Our Lady .

literature

• Georg Brückl: Thoma, Dr., Antonius von. In: Biographisches Jahrbuch and Deutscher Nekrolog. Vol. 3 (1900) 381ff.
• Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Volume 8: Supplement L – Z. Winter, Heidelberg 2014, ISBN 978-3-8253-6051-1 , pp. 340–341.
• Anton Landersdorfer : Antonius von Thoma - Bishop of Passau (1889), Archbishop of Munich and Freising (1889–1897) - a king's child? In: Manfred Eder (Hrsg.), Anton Landersdorfer: Christians in Bavaria - Christians from Bavaria. Biographical aspects and perspectives through 15 centuries. Festschrift Karl Hausberger on the occasion of his 65th birthday (= contributions to the history of the diocese of Regensburg , volume 43), Regensburg 2009, 275–295.
• August Leidl: The Bishops of Passau 739–1968. 2nd edition 1978.

Web links

Commons : Antonius von Thoma  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry about Antonius von Thoma on catholic-hierarchy.org (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans Jürgen Brandt: Jerusalem has friends. Munich and the Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher. EOS 2010, p. 59 f.