George of Bavaria
Georg Franz Josef Luitpold Maria von Bayern (born April 2, 1880 in Munich , † May 31, 1943 in Rome ) was a Prince of Bavaria , later a Catholic priest and prelate of the Curia in Rome.
Life
Prince and soldier
Georg von Bayern was a prince from the Bavarian royal house Wittelsbach , son of Prince Leopold of Bavaria , brother of the last Bavarian king, and Gisela of Austria , daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria . Prince Georg of Bavaria was thus the grandson of Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth of Austria , called "Sisi", as well as of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria .
On April 1, 1897 (the day before his 17th birthday), Prince Georg joined the army as a lieutenant in the Bavarian Infantry Body Regiment . On February 8, 1903, he became a first lieutenant and switched to the 1st Heavy Rider Regiment to get to know the cavalry. Here he was promoted to Rittmeister on October 27, 1905, and to Major on October 26, 1906. From 1908 the prince was also an honorary Austrian cavalry master or major in the Moravian Dragoons Regiment No. 11 . It is also reported that Georg von Bayern was an avid boxer during his military service.
He married the Archduchess Isabella of Austria-Teschen , daughter of Archduke Friedrich of Austria-Teschen and Princess Isabella of Croy , on February 11, 1912 at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. The couple spent their honeymoon in Wales , Paris and Algiers , but separated for personal reasons during the honeymoon. After less than a year, the Bavarian Supreme Court upheld the divorce on January 17, 1913, and the Holy See in Rome declared the marriage annulled on March 5 of the same year, as it was not consummated according to information from both partners.
During the First World War , Prince Georg of Bavaria was an officer on the western and eastern fronts, received the Iron Cross 1st class and other awards and achieved the rank of colonel.
His former wife Archduchess Isabella worked as a nurse in the Austrian army during this time, fell in love with the surgeon Paul Albrecht (1873–1928) and even got engaged to him. However, the emperor had forbidden marriage to the bourgeois doctor (Habsburg house laws) and the princess did not marry again until her death on December 6, 1973 in La Tour-de-Peilz , Switzerland.
According to rumors, Prince Georg had had a relationship with a girl of the same age from Vienna since 1896, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, whom he was not allowed to marry due to the differences in class. Because of this unfulfilled love, the prince's marriage also fell apart. After the First World War, he and this woman - who had meanwhile been married to the officer Jan Zapletal - had a son named Franz Hans Leopold Maria Wittelsbach (1919–1999) and wanted to finally marry his childhood sweetheart, which the family forbade him again has been. Prince Georg then left his homeland and the Bavarian royal family and began studying theology. The extent to which this story corresponds to the facts can hardly be clarified without viewing the files in the Wittelsbach house archive - which are not freely accessible.
Priest and prelate
Georg began studying theology in Innsbruck in 1919 and was ordained a priest on March 21, 1921. He then did his doctorate in canon law in Innsbruck and went to Rome, where he continued his studies and graduated from the Pontifical Academy in 1925 . Pope Pius XI appointed him on November 18, 1926 to the papal house prelate with the salutation "Monsignore", 1930 to the canon of St. Peter. Pius XII. promoted him on November 12, 1941 to the Apostolic Protonotary , one of the highest papal honorary titles. In Rome, the Wittelsbacher was known and loved by the nickname "Monsignore Georgio". He was very active among the Germans resident there, especially the Bavarians, and had excellent contacts in the Vatican. He acted unofficially as a middleman of the high nobility in the Vatican and the Holy See in the high aristocratic circles. Prince Georg always maintained contact with Roman visitors from his own family, especially with his cousin Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria , who fled to Rome from the Nazis in 1939. He also remained in constant contact with the other high nobility residing there or visiting, who were often relatives. He took u. a. 1930 attended the wedding of the future Italian king Umberto II and his wife Marie José of Belgium ; also in 1935 at the marriage of the Spanish Infante Jaime de Borbón . In 1938 he arranged the transfer of the royal couple Franz II of Sicily, who died in exile in Bavaria, and his wife Marie, nee. Princess in Bavaria , who was a sister of his grandmother. The two dead were buried in the Roman church " Santo Spirito in Sassia ".
During his Roman times, Prince Georg lived in the Villa San Francesco with the Waldbreitbach Franciscan Brothers (Regularterziaren) there , who are dedicated to nursing the sick.
Georg von Bayern died in Rome at the age of 63 and is buried in the German cemetery Campo Santo Teutonico , near St. Peter's Church . Since 1929 he belonged to the local "Arch Brotherhood of the Sorrowful Mother of God of the Germans and Flemings". Prince Georg is said to have contracted tuberculosis - similar to the founder of the Waldbreitbach Franciscan Friars' order, Peter Wirth - while caring for sick people and died, according to the " Osservatore Romano " on June 2, 1943, after a long illness. In his will he left money for new bronze gates of St. Peter's Church. From his foundation u. a. the “Gate of Death” by Giacomo Manzù and the “Gate of the Sacraments” by Venanzo Crocetti.
The German artist Arno Breker created a bust of the prelate in 1933.
literature
- Albrecht Weiland: The Campo Santo Teutonico in Rome and its grave monuments , Herder, Freiburg 1988, p. 185.
- Martha Schad : Empress Elisabeth and her daughters . Langen Müller, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-7844-2665-4 .
References and footnotes
- ↑ Official part - (The marriage of your k. And k. Highness of the most illustrious woman Archduchess Isabelle Marie; Prince Georg of Bavaria). In: Wiener Zeitung , April 26, 1913, p. 1 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ St. Peter's Church, Gate of the Dead
- ↑ St. Peter's Church, Gate of the Sacraments
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bavaria, Georg von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bavaria, Georg Franz Josef Luitpold Maria Prinz von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Prince of Bavaria (until 1918), Catholic priest and prelate of the Curia in Rome |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 2, 1880 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Munich |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 31, 1943 |
| Place of death | Rome |