Frederick Xavier Katzer

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Archbishop Friedrich Xaver Katzer, 1893
Archbishop Friedrich Xaver Katzer
Mural painted in 1888 at St. Francis Seminary (Salesianum) Milwaukee; Bishop Katzer is the 2nd person from the right
Grave of Archbishop Katzer, St Francis Seminary Cemetery, Milwaukee

Frederick Xavier Katzer , born as Friedrich Xaver Katzer (born February 7, 1844 in Ebensee , Upper Austria , † July 20, 1903 in Milwaukee ) was an Austrian clergyman and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Milwaukee .

Life

Friedrich Xaver Katzer was born as the son of the married couple Karl and Barbara Katzer in Ebensee. The mother was born Reinhardtsgruber and came from Moravia . In 1847 the family moved to Gmunden . There the son attended school and in 1857 entered the boys' seminar run by Jesuits on the Freinberg in Linz . After Katzer had studied high school subjects and philosophy here, he heard about the shortage of priests in North America and at the age of 20 followed the Slovenian Indian missionary Franz Pirc there, where he arrived on May 19, 1864.

First, Friedrich Xaver Katzer turned to St. Paul (Minnesota) , where the local bishop could no longer accept the priestly candidates because of their large number. That is why he wanted to join the Jesuit order in Baltimore , but then came into contact with his compatriot Father Josef Salzmann , who had founded the St. Francis Seminary (also known as Salesianum ) in Milwaukee and offered him to complete his studies there. He was ordained a priest here on December 21, 1866 and then taught as a professor at the seminary in the subjects of mathematics, philosophy and dogmatics. Katzer held this position for 9 years.

At the request of his friend, the Bavarian bishop Franz Xaver Krautbauer (1821–1885), Katzer came to his diocese Green Bay in 1875 , where he first worked as a cathedral priest , then from 1878 as vicar general . After Bishop Krautbauer's sudden death, Pope Leo XIII determined him . on July 13, 1886 as his successor. He received his episcopal ordination on September 21 of the same year by Archbishop Michael Heiss of Milwaukee. Katzer continued the committed development work of his predecessor, u. a. he built a church and several schools. He attached particular importance to the promotion of German, Catholic educational institutions.

When Michael Heiß died in 1890, Friedrich Xaver Katzer succeeded him on January 30, 1891 as Archbishop of Milwaukee ; on August 21, 1891 he received the pallium . During a visit to Rome in 1895, the Archbishop gave the Sisters of the Divine Savior ( Salvatorian Sisters ) permission to set up a branch in Milwaukee. It was through him that the order came to America and spread throughout the United States. Katzer was an avowed opponent of Masonic lodges and secret societies such as the Pythias Knights .

Around 1900 there was a liver and kidney disease from which he finally died. On the last of his three home visits, in the summer of 1902, Archbishop Katzer was invited to the banquet in the imperial villa on August 18, the emperor's birthday. He was dead a few months later. His funeral in the St. Francis Seminary cemetery in Milwaukee was attended by 40,000 people and all of the major American newspapers recognized his services.

In the St. Francis Seminary (Salesianum) Milwaukee, where Friedrich Xaver Katzer was consecrated and taught for 9 years , the painter Johann Schmitt from Hainstadt in Baden made a mural in the chapel in 1888 with the title "The Consecration of St. Francis de Sales " . On the right side he grouped extras that had nothing to do with the original story, but were significant for the church history of Wisconsin . On a surviving photo, starting from the right, the following people standing next to each other can be identified: Father Josef Salzmann (the founder of the seminar, with the plan in hand), Bishop Friedrich Xaver Katzer and Bishop Johann Martin Henni (with full white hair; during his period of Seminar was founded). Unfortunately the splendid and historically interesting picture was painted over in 1972.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ivan Čizmić, Matjaž Klemenčič: Croatian and Slovene Missionaries as Inventors and Explorers of the American West and Midwest . In: Društvena istraživanja: časopis za opća društvena pitanja . tape 11 , no. 4-5 (60-61) , November 12, 2001, pp. 761–783 (English, online [PDF]).
  2. ↑ On the Settlement of the Salvatorians in Milwaukee
  3. ↑ On the painting in St. Francis Seminary Milwaukee ( Memento from September 6, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
predecessor Office successor
Michael hot Archbishop of Milwaukee
1886–1891 		Sebastian Gebhard Messmer
Franz Xaver Krautbauer Bishop of Green Bay
1891–1903 		Sebastian Gebhard Messmer
personal data
SURNAME Katzer, Frederick Xavier
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Katzer, Friedrich Xaver
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian clergyman and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Milwaukee
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH Ebensee , Upper Austria
DATE OF DEATH July 20, 1903
Place of death Milwaukee