Johann Michael Josef von Pidoll

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Bishop Johann Michael Josef von Pidoll

Johann Michael Josef von Pidoll ; full name Johann Michael Josef von Pidoll zu Quintenbach (born November 16, 1734 in Trier ; † November 23, 1819 in Le Mans ) was auxiliary bishop in Trier from 1794 to 1802 and bishop of Le Mans from 1802 to 1819 .

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Johann Michael Josef von Pidoll was the ninth of eleven children of the electoral Trier secret council and Thurn- und Taxis's chief postmaster Hubert von Pidoll and his wife Maria Josefa, née. Geisen.

The boy attended the Jesuit high school in his hometown, studied theology and law here and was ordained a priest on December 23, 1758 . He held a canon at the St. Paulin Abbey and was its last dean from 1770 to 1802 . In the administration of the Archdiocese of Trier from Pidoll was only assessor and secretary at Generalvikariat, 1787 he was minister Privy Council , then director of the Justice spiritual Senate in Trier. In 1789 he acted as a supervisor for the Trier school system, then as a trainee lawyer for spiritual matters in Koblenz .

As the successor to Auxiliary Bishop Jean-Marie Cuchot d'Herbain , Pidoll was appointed auxiliary bishop in Trier and titular bishop of Diocletiana on February 21, 1794 ; He received the episcopal ordination on March 19, 1794 from Archbishop Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony , in his court chapel in Koblenz. In October of the same year Johann Michael Josef von Pidoll, like his prince-bishop, fled across the Rhine from the advancing French revolutionary troops. He stayed in Hanau , Frankfurt am Main , Mainz and Ehrenbreitstein , stayed in contact with his pastor, who was in the diocese of Augsburg , and exercised the episcopal functions in the part of the Archdiocese of Trier on the right bank of the Rhine.

After the French occupation of the German areas to the left of the Rhine, according to the Concordat of 1801 between Pope Pius VII and Napoleon , dioceses that were identical in area were established at the départemental seats. The old dioceses were declared dissolved (with regard to their left bank, now French areas). The diocese of Trier lived within new boundaries, as a French diocese again and Prince Archbishop Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony campaigned for his previous auxiliary bishop of Pidoll to be his successor there.

Napoleon Bonaparte , however, rated it "a waste to place such a capable man in a small, problem-free diocese" and instead appointed him Bishop of Le Mans on April 10, 1802. Pidoll has earned a great reputation in Le Mans for his affability and tireless diligence, reorganized the diocese and parish administration, as well as the priestly education. He also brought the Jesuits into his parlor. On September 14, 1814 he was ennobled "Baron de l'Empire". His former chaplain of St. Paulin in Trier, Valentin Josef Hitzler (1747-1824), had accompanied Bishop Pidoll to Le Mans in 1802 and remained there as a canon, one of his closest collaborators.

The bishop survived the fall of Napoleon without suffering any damage. Due to age, he could no longer exercise his office in the last two years of his life. Johann Michael Josef von Pidoll is buried in a side chapel of Le Mans Cathedral.

A contemporary obituary said of him: “He administered the Diocese of Le Mans during a time when there were many wounds to heal. He managed to unite all political directions and religious parties. He was a true apostle of the first times ” .

Anselm von Pidoll (1734-1827), last abbot of the Himmerod monastery before secularization , later canon in Trier, was his cousin.

literature

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Individual evidence

  1. ^ Source on the titular bishopric
  2. ↑ Source on the assessment by Napoleon
  3. ↑ Source on Valentin Josef Hitzler from Trier
personal data
SURNAME Pidoll, Johann Michael Josef von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johann Michael Josef von Pidoll zu Quintenbach
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Auxiliary Bishop in Trier, Bishop of Le Mans
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1734
PLACE OF BIRTH trier
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 1819
Place of death Le Mans