Clemens August Droste zu Vischering

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Archbishop Clemens August Droste zu Vischering in the so-called legate purple , which the Archbishops of Cologne are allowed to wear even if, like Droste, they are not cardinals
Coat of arms of the barons of Droste zu Vischering

Clemens August Baron Droste zu Vischering , also known as Clemens August zu Droste-Vischering or Clemens August Droste zu Vischering (born January 22, 1773 in Münster , † October 19, 1845 in Münster), was from 1835 to 1845 as Clemens August II. Droste zu Vischering Archbishop of Cologne .

Life

Origin and family

Clemens August was the son of the married couple Clemens August Maria Droste zu Vischering (1742–1790) and Sophia Alexandrina Droste zu Füchten (1748–1817) of the noble family of barons Droste zu Vischering , one of the oldest and most important Westphalian families. He grew up with his five siblings. His older brother Adolf Heidenreich was Erbdroste and builder of the Erbdrostenhof , Kaspar Maximilian was Bishop of Münster, Franz Otto was a Catholic theologian and publicist and Maximilian Heidenreich was district administrator in Brilon

Career

Like his two brothers Kaspar Maximilian and Franz Otto, he prepared himself in Münster for a spiritual life. Through his brother Kaspar Maximilian, who had become auxiliary bishop in 1795 , he was ordained a priest on May 14, 1798 in Munster and became cathedral capitular . As such, on November 1, 1808, he founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of the Blessed Virgin and Sorrowful Mother Mary, based on the model of the Vincentian Sisters of Paul . The nuns, mostly referred to as Sisters of Clement after him , have dedicated themselves to nursing the sick.

On September 16, 1810, he became vicar general of the diocese of Münster . Right at the beginning of his church career, he strictly contradicted any compromise with the Prussian government on the controversial issue of bringing up children from interdenominational marriages . When this attitude brought him into open conflict with church officials who were looking for a compromise, Droste zu Vischering resigned from his position as vicar general in the summer of 1820 and devoted himself to charitable work in seclusion.

His brother Kaspar Maximilian, who had become bishop of Münster in 1825 , donated him episcopal ordination in 1827 after he had been appointed titular bishop of Calama . In the following years he worked as auxiliary bishop in the diocese of Münster. The Cologne Cathedral Chapter elected him on December 1, 1835 - primarily at the request of the Prussian Crown Prince and later King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. - as Archbishop of Cologne and successor to Ferdinand August von Spiegel . His enthronement followed on May 29, 1836.

In office, the new archbishop immediately began to follow a course close to ultramontanism , which was first shown in his energetic action against Hermesianism among the priests of his archdiocese. On September 17 and 18, 1837, the district president of Düsseldorf and the Prussian envoy at the papal court negotiated with him personally about the Berlin Convention of 1834, which his predecessor von Spiegel had concluded with Prussia as a compromise regulation on the question of mixed marriages; Clemens August refused to recognize the convention.

On the evening of November 20, 1837, the archbishop was arrested and placed under house arrest in Minden together with his secretary Eduard Michelis . He lived in rented quarters with constant surveillance in the house of the Catholic merchant Vogeler. Pope Gregory XVI protested loudly against the arrest of the archbishop. Droste zu Vischering became popular among German Catholics as the “confessor of confession”, which made him a crystallization figure of political Catholicism . The cathedral chapter under coadjutor Johannes von Geissel continued the business of the arrested man. On April 17, 1839, he was released from prison in Darfeld because of his poor health and then lived in seclusion in Münster. Negotiations between the curia and the archbishop with the Prussian state put an end to the Cologne church dispute in 1842.

His grave is in the high choir of St. Paulus Cathedral in Münster.

See also

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Clemens August Droste on Vischering  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Baptism - KB001_2 | Munster, St. Servatii | Münster, rk. Diocese | Germany | Matricula Online. Retrieved June 12, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Deaths - KB008 | Münster, St. Paulus Dom | Münster, rk. Diocese | Germany | Matricula Online. Retrieved June 12, 2020 .
  3. ^ Website of the Sisters of Clement
predecessor Office successor
Ferdinand August von Spiegel Archbishop of Cologne
1835–1845 		Johannes von Geissel
personal data
SURNAME Droste zu Vischering, Clemens August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Droste zu Vischering, Clemens August Freiherr; Droste-Vischering, Clemens August zu; Droste zu Vischering, Klemens August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German clergyman, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cologne (1835–1845)
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1773
PLACE OF BIRTH Muenster
DATE OF DEATH October 19, 1845
Place of death Muenster