Franz Dionys von Rost

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Johann Franz Dionys von Rost (1716–1793) Prince-Bishop of Chur 1777–1793
Coat of arms of the Prince-Bishop of Chur 1777–1793

Johann Franz Dionys Constanz von Rost (born January 14, 1716 in Reutte in Tyrol , † October 31, 1793 in Chur ) was a Roman Catholic bishop of the diocese of Chur .

Life

His father, Johann Gaudenz III. Freiherr von Rost, was a distant relative of the Prince-Bishop of Chur, Joseph Benedikt von Rost . As a fortress commander on Ernberg and from 1738 as a field marshal lieutenant and military director of the provinces of Upper and Lower Austria, he was in the service of Emperor Charles VI. (HRR) . In 1738 he raised him and his family to hereditary count. From 1727 to 1733 Dionys and three of his brothers attended the knight academy founded in 1711 in Ettal Abbey . Abbot Placidus Seitz (1709–1736) was concerned to train the nobility, who held influential offices not only in the state but also in the church, " through their religious school to a new sense of responsibility and new efficiency ". On June 1, 1733, the young Dionys received the tonsure and minor orders from Abbot Plazidus . 1733 alumnus in the diocese of Augsburg , he studied at the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum in Rome . On September 9th, 1734 it was installed as Domsextar in Chur. On September 24, 1740, he was ordained a priest in the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Chur by Joseph Benedikt Freiherr von Rost , the Prince-Bishop of Chur . 1743 cathedral choirmaster , he was intended to succeed the prince-bishop who died on November 12, 1754; but the cathedral chapter decided on Johannes Baptist Anton von Federspiel , a relative of the deceased.

On April 16, 1777, the Chur Cathedral Chapter decided in favor of von Rost and elected him unanimously. This time too, the chapter ignored the protests of the church association , which again referred to its "old rights". Pope Pius VI confirmed the election on July 28, 1777 and the Apostolic Nutius Giovanni Battista Caprara donated him episcopal ordination on September 14, 1777 ; Co- consecrators were Benedikt Bochsler , the Abbot von Pfäfers , Columban Sozzi , the Abbot of Disentis and the Abbot of St. Luzi in Chur. The imperial regalia were awarded to Johann Franz Dionys Constanz von Rost on January 19, 1779.

Already at the beginning of his episcopate there was a dispute with the state church policy of Emperor Joseph II , although he was born in Innsbruck as Bishop of Chur, as a church prince residing outside the "Austrian hereditary lands", especially on compliance with imperial decrees and laws under the supervision of Tyrolean government stood. Pope Pius VI who met the emperor in Vienna in 1783 could not change or relax Joseph II's policy, so that the bishops were on their own in their protest and could not expect any help from Rome . The bishop was powerless against the closure and dissolution of monasteries in Vinschgau and Vorarlberg . Half of the centuries-old monasteries were secularized , property and property flowed into the religious fund created by the emperor, the monks and nuns were relieved from wearing the religious costume and took on tasks in the dioceses (world priests), whereupon Bishop Johann Franz von Rost observing the vows demanded. Several attempts to establish episcopal seminaries for the formation of priests were prevented by the state authorities. On the decree of Emperor Joseph II on March 30, 1782, a general seminar was set up in Innsbruck, " the attendance of which was compulsory for all future secular and religious clergy of the Austrian part of the diocese ".

The abolition of public holidays and pilgrimages as well as the closure of some churches and chapels triggered a popular uprising in Vorarlberg in 1789. The government in Innsbruck asked the prince-bishop to ensure peace and order. The bishop criticized some "excessive coercive measures", but instructed his clergy not to interfere in the tumult . In negotiations with the government he succeeded in reopening the churches and reorganizing the holidays, which helped to calm the situation.

The first complete account of the history of the Diocese of Chur was written under Prince-Bishop Dionys von Rost. Martin Gerbert (1764–1793), the prince abbot of St. Blasien , intended to publish a Germania Sacra around 1780 , a work of history about all the monasteries and dioceses of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation . Father Ambrosius Eichhorn (1758–1820) was to work on the Chur district for this purpose. In the summer of 1787 he began sifting through files and documents in the Chur archive; the result was published in 1797 in St. Blasien under the title Episcopatus Curiensis in Rhaetia sub Metropoli Moguntina chronologice ac diplomatice illustratus in book form.

With an obituary, Father Ambrosius Eichhorn paid tribute to the Prince-Bishop of Chur, who died on October 31, 1793, as “ a prelate of outstanding piety, wisdom, gentleness and zeal”. With cleverness and diplomatic skill, which often enough suffered severe setbacks, von Rost, as a thoroughly class-conscious church prince of the Ancien Régime, tried to close the diocese of Chur in its old borders with Austrian areas (Vorarlberg, Vinschgau and parts of Tyrol) through a turbulent period of Josephinism to lead. "

He was buried in the bishop's tomb in the south aisle of the Assumption Cathedral in Chur.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The bishops of the German-speaking countries.
  2. ^ Albert Fischer: Johann Franz Dionys Freiherr von Rost 1777-1793.
predecessor Office successor
Johannes Baptist Anton Freiherr von Federspiel Bishop of Chur
1777–1793 		Karl Rudolf Count von Buol-Schauenstein
personal data
SURNAME Rost, Franz Dionys von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rost, Johann Franz Dionys Constanz von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Chur
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1716
PLACE OF BIRTH Reutte Castle in ( Tyrol )
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 1793
Place of death Chur