Franz Xaver Schwäbl

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Bishop Franz Xaver Schwäbl, contemporary engraving
Medal, 1100 years of the Diocese of Regensburg, 1840; with portrait of Bishop Schwäbl.

Franz Xaver Schwäbl (born November 14, 1778 in Reisbach ; † July 12, 1841 in Regensburg ) was Bishop of Regensburg.

biography

Schwäbl was the 21st child of Reisbacher baker Wolfgang Schwäbl († 1788). His mother Maria († 1809) was born in Brunner. After attending grammar school in Salzburg and the Lyceum in Munich , Franz Xaver Schwäbl joined the Bartholomean Institute in Ingolstadt in 1798 . He studied theology in Ingolstadt and - after relocating the Bavarian State University - in Landshut . In Landshut he was one of the students of Johann Michael Sailer , who decisively shaped his theological thinking and his church attitude.

In 1801 Schwäbl was ordained a priest in Regensburg and was mainly active in pastoral care over the next few years. On the recommendation of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig , who got to know and appreciate him during a spa stay in Bad Brückenau, Schwäbl was appointed canon in the Munich Metropolitan Chapter in 1823 . Archbishop Lothar Anselm Freiherr von Gebsattel entrusted him with the supervision of the training of priests in the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising .

After the death of Regensburg Bishop Johann Michael Sailer, King Ludwig I of Bavaria had appointed the Auxiliary Bishop Georg Michael Wittmann as his successor. However, when he died before the papal confirmation arrived, the king appointed Franz Xaver Schwäbl as the new bishop of Regensburg on March 12, 1833 . Schwäbl was consecrated bishop in Munich on April 15, 1833 and solemnly enthroned in Regensburg Cathedral on June 1, 1833 .

As a bishop, Franz Xaver Schwäbl endeavored to renew pastoral care: the training of priests was reformed, he ordered the annual synods to be held for all deans of the diocese, and a uniform "youth and people's catechism" was introduced for the diocese of Regensburg to improve religious instruction . The bishop also took an eager part in the revival of monastic and religious life in his diocese; so he supported z. B. the rebuilding of the Weltenburg monastery not far from Regensburg operated by the Benedictine Metten Abbey . The regotization of the cathedral in Regensburg (1835–1839) also fell during his term of office.

Shortly before the end of his life, Bishop Schwäbl found himself exposed to violent attacks by ultramontan Catholic circles, which increasingly determined church life in Bavaria. The reason for the abuse against Schwäbl was that he had withdrawn the permission to preach granted to the diocese of Regensburg from the Munich court preacher Anton Eberhard after the latter had become too upset in several sermons about Protestants and Catholic-Evangelical mixed marriages.

From a social point of view, his vita - from baker's son to high cleric - is paradigmatic for the upheaval in the church hierarchy, which after the upheavals around 1800 had opened the high church offices to people of non-aristocratic origin.

literature

Works (selection)

  • Short and instructive parables, 1831.
  • Epistola pastoralis Reverendissimi Domini Francisci Xaverii Episcopi Ratisbonensis ad clerum suum dioecesanum, 1833.
  • Pastoral words (posthumous collection), 1842.

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Johann Michael Sailer Bishop of Regensburg
1833–1841 		Valentin Riedel
personal data
SURNAME Schwäbl, Franz Xaver
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Regensburg (1833–1841)
DATE OF BIRTH November 14, 1778
PLACE OF BIRTH Reisbach
DATE OF DEATH July 12, 1841
Place of death regensburg