Johann von Revellis

Johann von Revellis (* in Burgundy ; † December 27, 1529 in Vienna ), was canon in Granada , cathedral dean in St. Stephan in Vienna and bishop of Vienna . He was the confessor and elemosynar (almsman, alms distributor) of Archduke Ferdinand I , the brother of Emperor Charles V.

Live and act

After the departure of the Viennese bishop Pietro Bonomo , Emperor Ferdinand I appointed his confessor Johann von Revellis as the new bishop of Vienna on October 4, 1523. On April 6, 1524 he was confirmed as Bishop of Vienna by Pope Clement VIII and ordained on August 7, 1527.

He took over the diocese in a financially worrying situation. By Jurij Slatkonja , one of his predecessors, substantial debt had been made for construction and renovations to the bishop apartment because he those at the Stephansfreythof had moved. The administrators in front of him had all lived "except for the room gate". The need was so great that the new bishop even had to sell valuables from his private property. The Viennese churches contributed precious metals, goblets and monstrances.

He was appointed chairman of the "Faith Court of Twelve" set up by Ferdinand I to combat secular and religious priests who joined the Reformation. Action was also taken against the Anabaptist sect . Members of this council were the Imperial Council and later Viennese Bishop Johann Fabri , the dean and professors of the theological faculty of Vienna and members of the city administration. While the castle preacher Johann Eggenberger fled, the wealthy Viennese citizen Caspar Tauber , Hans Voystler, member of the Inner Council, Jakob Peregrin, assistant priest in the court hospital and Johann Väsel, priest in Wiener Neustadt, were the first to be brought before this court in 1523 for apostasy. All revoked and received church fines. When Caspar Tauber "fell away from the faith" again in 1524 , he was executed on the goose pasture in September of that year . Balthasar Hubmayr an Anabaptist, a former priest in Waldshut in Switzerland, was burned at the stake at the Stubentor on March 10, 1528 .

The cathedral chapter was of no use for pastoral care and set the worst example. Bishop Johann often felt compelled to lock clerics “and other bad people” in the dungeons of the bishop's court . Nevertheless, Protestantism is unlikely to have advanced very far in Austria in the years before the Turkish siege in 1529 . Revellis writes that the Viennese are “very Christian, extremely zealous and God-fearing” and that the churches are filled every day. "I think it is also true that no other people are as Christian as those of Vienna," he concludes his report.

After the defeat of the last Jagellon king Ludwig II at Mohacs in 1526, the Ottoman enemy moved against Vienna. Church goods and treasures made of precious metal were confiscated for coinage to finance the struggle. It is one of the main reasons that so few Gothic works of art of this kind have survived in Vienna and the surrounding area. Soldiers were housed in monasteries and caused great damage there. The aged bishop had not fled like most other high-ranking personalities, but waited within the city walls of Vienna together with the mayor Wolfgang Treu . He died soon after the city was liberated.

literature

• Joseph Freiherr von Hormayr zu Hortenburg : Vienna, its fortunes and its memorabilia. Volume 4, Issue 1-2. Vienna: Franz Härter'sche Buchhandlung 1823, p. 169, Google digitized Hormayr p. 169
• P. Xystus Schier: The bishops and archbishops of Vienna. Graz: Kaspar Zaunrithsche Buchhandlung 1786, p. 41, Google digitized Schier p. 41
• Gerhard Robert Walther von Coeckelberghe-Dützele (pseudonym Realis): Curiosities and Memorabilia Lexicon of Vienna. Edited by Anton Köhler. 1st volume. Vienna 1846, p. 282, Google digitized Realis p. 282
• Roderich Geyer: Dr. Johann Caspar Neubeck, Bishop of Vienna. University of Vienna, Philosophical Faculty, Dissertation, 1956, pp. 8–12.
• G. Loesche: History of Protestantism in the former and in the new Austria. 2nd edition, Vienna 1930
• Martin Krexner, Franz Loidl : Vienna's bishops and archbishops. A. Schendl, Vienna 1983, ISBN = 3-85268-080-8

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Martin Krexner, Franz Loidl : Vienna's bishops and archbishops. A. Schendl, Vienna 1983, ISBN = 3-85268-080-8
2. ^ Hierarchia Catholica, Volume 3, Page 33

predecessor	Office	successor
Pietro Bonomo	Bishop of Vienna 1523–1529	Johann Fabri