Franz II. Xavier von Salm-Reifferscheidt

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Bust of Salm-Reifferscheidt to the left of the north entrance to Klagenfurt Cathedral
Tomb of Cardinal Salm in Strasbourg
Heraldic incorrect representation of the coat of arms with reference to Prince-Bishop Salm-Reifferscheidt in the Hirter Brewery's logo .
Signpost for Prince Bishop Salm-Weg in the Leitertal

Franz II. Xaver Altgraf von Salm-Reifferscheidt (born February 1, 1749 in Vienna , † April 19, 1822 in Klagenfurt ) was Prince-Bishop of Gurk , cardinal and pioneer of alpinism .

Life

Franz Xaver was born in Vienna as the fourth of ten children of Anton Joseph Franz Altgrafen von Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz (1720–1769) and his wife Maria Anna von Rogendorf . His father came from the Raitz line of the Salm-Reifferscheidt family; the rule of Krautheim belonged to a different line of this sex. Nevertheless, the prince-bishop appears again and again with the name "Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim".

The father of the future prince-bishop was educator of Emperor Joseph II and knight of the Golden Fleece . In his youth, Franz Xaver is said to have been a playmate of the future emperor. He completed his studies at the Theresianum in Vienna, then he studied theology in Rome , where he was on August 25, 1775 in the St. Peter's Church of Pope Pius VI. was ordained a priest . He obtained the canonicals of Olomouc and Salzburg. Thanks to his good contacts with the Viennese court, he was even accepted into the cathedral chapters of Cologne and Strasbourg. He owed the appointment of Auditor Rotae in Rome to Empress Maria Theresa . Salm was personally friends with Pope Pius.

On November 20, 1783 he was appointed Prince-Bishop of Gurk, confirmed by the Pope on July 24, 1784. On August 9 of the same year he received the episcopal ordination from the Archbishop of Salzburg, Hieronymus von Colloredo . Co - consecrators were the Prince-Bishop of Chiemsee , Ferdinand Christoph von Waldburg-Zeil , and the Bishop of Brno , Vinzenz Joseph von Schrattenbach . On August 13, 1784, he made his first visit to Gurk, and nine months later on May 16, 1785, he was represented by the Provost of the Cathedral. Bishop Salm was the last Bishop of Gurk to reside - even if only for a few months - in Strasbourg Castle. In 1786 he moved the bishopric from Gurk to Klagenfurt due to the revolutionary reforms of the Josephine church. In Klagenfurt he initially resided in the Viktringerhof , in 1791 he moved into the palace of the late Archduchess Maria Anna in the Völkermarkter Vorstadt , which has remained the episcopal residence of the Diocese of Gurk to this day.

Under Salm, the borders of the diocese were also significantly enlarged: 96 of Salzburg , 56 of Görz , 5 of Laibach and Lavant were ceded, the entire area of ​​today's Carinthia with the exception of the Lavant valley belonged to Gurk from now on.

Klagenfurt was occupied by enemy troops three times (1797, 1805 and 1809), on March 30, 1797 Napoléon Bonaparte himself was in Klagenfurt, two days earlier his General Masséna took up quarters in the episcopal palace. In the war year 1809, Bishop Salm personally accompanied the Carinthian Landwehr to South Tyrol.

Bishop Salm suggested that the dioceses of Salzburg and Gurk be merged in order to give him coadjuterie and the right of succession. The bishop was then accused of ambition and striving for power. The project was also deemed impracticable as such a large diocese would have been difficult to administer. In order to limit Salm to his own diocese, they threatened to provide him with a coadjutor if he stayed outside his diocese for more than three months.

On September 23, 1816, Salm was raised to cardinal by Pope Pius VII , he was the last Gurk bishop to achieve this dignity.

Salm was also a patron of the arts and a nature lover who, among other things, organized the first ascent of the Großglockner in 1799 and 1800 . In memory of him, the Salmhütte and the hiking trail through the Leitertal were named after him and a memorial plaque reminds of the expedition led on this path.

Salm was less happy in his economic ventures. He bought iron works from the state, but got into severe financial distress due to borrowing and foreign competition. Furthermore, his charity, but also expensive court rulings ultimately led to a complete financial collapse. From 1821 the bishop, who was besieged by creditors and completely impoverished, had to be content with two rooms in the seminary as an apartment.

In 1822 he suffered a stroke while driving and died in the presence of his chapter. Bishop Salm was buried in the parish church of St. Nikolai in Strasbourg (Carinthia) .

literature

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