Friedrich Reese (Bishop)

Bishop Friedrich Reese around 1835

Friedrich Reese (baptized name Friedrich Johann Conrad Reese ; * February 6, 1791 in Vienenburg ; † December 27, 1871 in Hildesheim ) was a German missionary pioneer in the USA, the country's first Catholic bishop of German nationality and the first Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Detroit .

Live and act

Friedrich Reese - who later mostly spelled Résé to avoid incorrect English pronunciation of his name - was the son of poor parents who died early. He learned a trade, served as a Hanoverian cavalryman in the Wars of Liberation in 1813/14 and took part in the battle of Waterloo under Field Marshal Blücher in 1815 . Then he embarked on a spiritual career, made a pilgrimage to Rome, studied theology and was ordained a priest on March 15, 1823 by the Roman cardinal vicar Giacinto Placido Zurla . He then worked in the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Congregation ). In 1824, Bishop Edward Fenwick traveled from Cincinnati to Rome to solicit support for his newly created Greater Diocese, which comprised what is now Ohio , Indiana , Michigan and Wisconsin . Pope Leo XII. provided him with Friedrich Reese and a second priest of the Propaganda Congregation as co-workers.

In the United States, Bishop Fenwick named Reese pastor for the city of Cincinnati and the surrounding area and soon made him his vicar general . In 1828, Vicar General Friedrich Reese was sent to Europe to raise money for the huge mission area. In Vienna he succeeded in founding the mission association of the Leopoldinenstiftung . In Munich, dated September 8, 1828, he wrote a memorandum to King Ludwig I , in which he requested a similar association in Bavaria. However, the monarch only approved a nationwide collection for the aforementioned purpose, with no permanent ministry . On March 15 and 16, 1829, Friedrich Reese stayed with Bishop Johann Michael Sailer , the king's confidante, in Regensburg , who also failed to change the regent's mind.

In 1833 Pope Gregory XVI established the Diocese of Detroit and appointed Friedrich Reese first bishop on March 23. He received episcopal ordination on October 6, 1833 from Joseph Rosati , the first shepherd of St. Louis .

Reese built up his young diocese with determination. In 1838 he traveled to Europe again and visited King Ludwig I in Munich - now as bishop - to ask again for the establishment of a Bavarian missionary organization. This audience finally led to the goal. The king set up a foundation, took over the patronage and gave it his name; it was the Ludwig Mission Association .

After successfully returning to America, Reese began to suffer from a mental disorder around 1840. He fell into depression and was finally unable to exercise his office from 1841. Peter Paul Lefevere took over the management of the diocese as coadjutor bishop († 1869). Reese sought relief while traveling to Europe and Asia. The disease worsened, however, and towards the end of his life he also fell into a state of dementia. He retired to the mother house of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Vinzenz von Paul returned to Hildesheim , where he was cared for and died in 1871. The successor as the second bishop of Detroit joined the from the Oldenburger Münsterland coming Caspar Henry Borges at (1824-1890).

Despite the tragic ending and his relatively short active episcopate, Reese remains significant in North American church history. The development of sources of money through the establishment of the German mission societies Leopoldinenstiftung and Ludwig-Missions-Verein resulted in more than 15 years of grueling missionary activity . They came about through the personal commitment of the prelate and were of fundamental importance for the further development of the young Catholic Church in North America.

In Reese's birthplace Vienenburg , Friedrich-Rese-Strasse is named after him. The parish home of the Holy Family Church is called the Bischof-Rese-Haus .

literature

• Willibald Mathäser: The Ludwig-Missionsverein at the time of King Ludwig I. Festgabe for the first centenary of the Bavarian Mission. Munich 1939
• Der Deutsche Pionier (American emigrant newspaper): The first German Catholic priest in Cincinnati , Volume VI (1874), pp. 155-156

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Reese  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry on Friedrich Reese on catholic-hierarchy.org
• Biographical page about Bishop Reese
• Website of the parish of Vienenburg with a mention of Bishop Reese