Clemens August von Merle

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Clemens August von Merle around 1765
Clemens August von Merle before 1797
Auxiliary Bishop of Merle

Clemens August Maria von Merle (born July 4, 1732 in Bonn , † January 4, 1810 in Deutz ) was auxiliary bishop in Cologne .

Live and act

He was the son of the Electoral Cologne Privy Councilor Gabriel Ignaz Joseph von Merle and his wife Maria Anna Salome von Lapp.

Merle obtained a canonical at the Cassius-Stift in Bonn and received on January 6, 1754 the minor ordinations and the ordination as subdeacon . Already on March 3, 1754 for a deacon and on September 1, 1754 for priests ordained , he studied at the University of Leuven (Belgium) and acquired here on February 16, 1757 the degree of Bachelor jur. utr; later, he also became the Doctor iuris utriusque doctorate . After he had received another canonical to St. Simeon zu Trier , he exchanged it in 1764 for a boarding school at St. Nikolaus Church in Hemmersbach. Since April 16, 1762 also canon in Cologne, Merle was active in the administration of Kurköln. Over the years he rose to the position of president of the court and in 1776 he was appointed archbishop's seminary commissioner within the diocesan administration, who was responsible for overseeing the seminary in Cologne. With the invasion of the French revolutionary troops into the Rhineland, hard times began for Merle.

After being held hostage for three weeks in Jülich , he was supposed to be deported to France. However, an illness in Aachen led to his release. Since he was still harassed by the revolutionary troops in his house in Cologne, he left this and moved into the infirmary of the Augustinian convent in Bethlehem in Cologne. At the suggestion of Archbishop Maximilian Franz of Austria , the Pope appointed him titular bishop of Bethsaida and auxiliary bishop in Cologne on July 24, 1797 . End of August 1797 came Merle then a trip to Bad Mergentheim , where him the Archbishop on 8 September in the Castle Church , the episcopal ordination donated, Mitkonsekrator was the Würzburg Bishop Andreas Joseph ferryman . In the following years Merle's sphere of activity expanded to the neighboring dioceses, because many of the bishops there had fled from the French or had already died. Since there was no new archbishop for Cologne after the death of Archbishop Maximilian Franz (1801), Merle continued his office as auxiliary bishop for the remainder of the archdiocese on the right bank of the Rhine, but on July 24, 1802 he moved his seat to Deutz, opposite the city of Cologne , because the left bank of the Rhine of the Archdiocese of Cologne had fallen to the newly established diocese of Aachen .

Merle was considered a good lawyer and dutiful bishop in his time. He, who was caught up in the spirit of the ancien régime , was open to art and science and owned a considerable collection of paintings and coins, which earned him the reputation of an important numismatist . He beautified Metternich Castle (also called Merle Castle) , which fell to him through his mother, with the creation of gardens. He established a water garden and in 1802 had the court gardener Weyhe plant trees that he had brought from America in the garden, which was converted from a French garden to an English landscape park. Above the water garden, a cross he erected commemorates the family. As requested, Clemens August von Merle was buried on this family estate after his death.

His uncle Christian Albert Anton von Merle (1693–1765) was auxiliary bishop in Worms and titular bishop of Sinope .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christian von Stramberg: The bank of the Rhine from Koblenz to Bonn (=  memorable and useful Rheinischer Antiquarius, which represents the most important and pleasant geographical, historical and political peculiarities of the entire Rhine, from its outflow into the sea to its origin . Volume 13 ). Rudolf Friedrich Hergt, Koblenz 1867, p. 135 ( limited preview in Google Book Search - source on parents).
  2. ↑ R. Reininger: The auxiliary bishops of Würzburg (=  archive of the Historical Association of Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg . Volume 18 ). Friedrich Ernst Thein, Würzburg 1865, p. 290 ( limited preview in Google Book Search - source for episcopal ordination).
  3. ↑ Jakob Torsy: The ordinations of the Cologne auxiliary bishops. 1661–1840 (=  Studies on Cologne Church History . Volume 10 ). Schwann, Düsseldorf 1969, DNB  458594237 , p. 54 ( limited preview in Google Book search - source for burial place).
  4. ^ FG von Mering: The auxiliary bishops, vicars general and officials of the Archdiocese of Cologne . In: Journal of Philosophy and Catholic Theology . tape 2 , no. 1 . Marcus, Cologne 1841, p. 17 ( limited preview in Google Book Search - On the Relationship of Both Bishops).
personal data
SURNAME Merle, Clemens August von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Merle, Clemens August Maria von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Auxiliary Bishop in Cologne
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1732
PLACE OF BIRTH Bonn
DATE OF DEATH January 4, 1810
Place of death Cologne-Deutz