Jakob Maximilian von Thun and Hohenstein

Jakob Maximilian Graf von Thun and Hohenstein (* July 23, 1681 , † July 26, 1741 in Strasbourg ) was Bishop of Gurk .

Life

Jakob Maximilian Graf von Thun and Hohenstein was born as the son of Georg Virgil Graf von Thun and Hohenstein and Countess Justina Margarethe Trapp zu Mätsch, his family came from South Tyrol. At a young age he came to the royal court in Salzburg, where his uncle Johann Ernst Graf von Thun and Hohenstein ruled as Prince Archbishop. On his recommendation, he studied at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome from 1697 to 1699 . In 1699 he received a canonical in Salzburg, and in 1704 an additional one in Passau. A year earlier he was promoted to full seat and voice. In 1707 he became president of the court chamber.

In 1709 he was appointed Bishop of Gurk by the new Salzburg Archbishop Harrach , his confirmation took place on September 22nd after the dispensation of the required canonical age by Pope Clement XI. It was not installed until August 31, 1711 in the Gurk Cathedral .

In contrast to his predecessors, the work of Bishop Jakob Maximilian Graf von Thun and Hohenstein was limited to his diocese. He preferred to reside on the property he had acquired in Mayerhofen , but also in Grades and Zwischenwässern. Since Mayerhofen belonged to the Archdiocese of Salzburg , Thun and Hohenstein tried to incorporate it in order not to have to reside outside of his diocese. After a long process, a contingent contract was negotiated with Salzburg in which St. Salvator would be left to the Gurk diocese, in return Gurk would renounce the parish of St. Johann in Marburg. However, the contract was never fulfilled and remained pending, but the bishop was very annoyed.

Grave of Bishop Thun-Hohenstein

In 1724 Thun and Hohenstein initiated an attempt to canonize the blessed Hemma von Gurk , but the project failed and Hemma was only canonized in 1939.

Thun and Hohenstein was very conscientious in the implementation of church ordinances. For example, believers who did not call a pastor to visit the sick in good time were sentenced to a fine, and mothers of illegitimate children were sentenced to prechel punishment (disgraceful violin). For this he received violent protests from his believers and the state government.

The bishop also emerged as an important patron of the arts and gave the baroque painter Paul Troger numerous commissions for Gurk and Strasbourg.

As the bishop's health deteriorated and he suffered from amnesia, the Bishop of Laibach was appointed to his side as administrator in 1740. After more than thirty years of reign, Bishop Jakob Maximilian Graf von Thun und Hohenstein died in the episcopal palace in Strasbourg. He was buried in the Maria Elend Chapel in the Strasbourg parish church of St. Nikolai, which he had built during his lifetime.

literature

• Jakob Obersteiner: The bishops of Gurk. 1072–1822 (= From Research and Art. 5, ISSN  0067-0642 ). Verlag des Geschichtsverein für Kärnten, Klagenfurt 1969, pp. 425-450.

Web links

• Entry about Jakob Maximilian von Thun and Hohenstein on catholic-hierarchy.org

Individual evidence

1. ^ Franz Auer:  Joseph Maria Graf von Thun-Hohenstein. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1974, ISBN 3-428-00191-5 , pp. 623 f. ( Digitized version ).