Franz Geiger (theologian)

Franz Geiger (born May 16, 1755 in Harting , † May 8, 1843 in Lucerne ) was a German - Swiss Catholic theologian and church historian .

Life

Franz Geiger - his baptismal name was Johann Nepomuk, his religious name Franziskus Tiburtius; in his writings he called himself Franz - was born in Harting near Regensburg in 1755 . He studied first with the Jesuits , then in the Benedictine seminary in Regensburg ( St. Emmeram ) and entered the Franciscan order in Lucerne in 1772 . After taking his vows in 1773, he studied mathematics in Regensburg (with Benedikt Arbuthnot in St. Jakob and Cölestin Steiglehner in St. Emmeram) and philosophy , then theology in Würzburg . After being ordained a priest in 1779, he taught the Hebrew language in Regensburg for some time , then for four years was professor of poetics and rhetoric at the grammar school of his order in Offenburg (where he composed a number of plays and singing plays and set the latter to music), then lecturer in philosophy in Freiburg in Switzerland. In 1788 he became lecturer of theology in the monastery and collegiate preacher in Solothurn , where he established relations with the French ambassador Marquis de Vérac , with whom he forged a plot with the royalists after the outbreak of the French Revolution in order to depose him with Swiss regiments and 20,000 snipers Louis XVI to help restore the king's throne.

In 1792 he was appointed professor of dogmatics and church history in Lucerne, the seat of the papal nuncio , who made him Theologus Nunciaturae . (His brother Emmeram Geiger OFM, * 1757, was professor of philosophy in Lucerne, † January 2, 1805.) Geiger had excellent relationships with the nuncios and was their influential advisor. He enjoyed the full confidence of Popes Pius VI. and Pius VII , who entrusted him with important tasks. In many cases he brokered the dealings between German bishops and clergymen with Rome, but refused all church decorations (Pope Leo XII is said to have even offered him the cardinal's hat). In 1805 he received approval to resign from the Franciscan order and become a secular clergyman. In 1808 he was appointed canon at the collegiate monastery St. Leodegar in the courtyard .

Relieved of his professorship in 1819, Geiger turned to journalism. He was a co-founder of the Schweizerische Kirchenzeitung (first published in 1832). He published no major theological work, but numerous smaller, mostly apologetic or polemical writings on dogmatic, church history, canon law and political issues. As a theologian, under the influence of Karl Ludwig von Haller, he became a supporter of French traditionalism, with which he combined ideas of Hegelian philosophy. With the translation of the Evangelical Morals ( La morale de l'Evangile , German: Altdorf 1830) Louis Bautain of 1827, he connected these ideas with German Romanticism .

Works

• Collected works, 8 volumes, ed. by Joseph Widmer , 1823–1839 (the 4th volume contains translations, mostly from French).

literature

• Neuer Nekrolog XXI (1843), 1, pp. 381-390.
• Joseph Widmer: The Blessed Canon Franz Geiger, sounds from his life. 1843.
• Heinrich Reusch: Geiger, Franz. In: General German Biography . 8, 1878, pp. 506-507.
• Joseph Rupert Geiselmann: Geiger, Franz. In: New German Biography . 6, 1964, pp. 145 f.