Leopold Anton von Firmian

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Prince Archbishop and legatus natus Leopold Anton von Firmian (painting in Schloss Leopoldskron )
Archbishop's coat of arms at the Salzburg Marstallschwemme
Archbishop Firmian's grave
Grave monument for Leopold Anton von Firmian in Salzburg Cathedral
Coat of arms of Archbishop Leopold Anton von Firmian

Leopold Anton Eleutherius Imperial Baron von Firmian (born May 27, 1679 in Munich ; † October 22, 1744 in Salzburg ) was elected Prince and Archbishop of Salzburg (princeps et archiepiscopus salisburgensis) in 1727 , after he had previously been bishop in Lavant , Seckau and Laibach had been.

family

Leopold Anton von Firmian came from the Tyrolean noble family of Firmian with seat in Formigar, today's Sigmundskron . He was the son of the imperial ambassador Franz Wilhelm Freiherr von Firmian, and the Maria Viktoria Countess von Thun. His uncle was Johann Ernst Graf von Thun und Hohenstein , Bishop of Seckau from 1679 to 1687 and Prince Archbishop of Salzburg from 1687 to 1709.

Life

He attended the Tyrolean Jesuit grammar school, became a cathedral student ("Domicellar") in Trient and Salzburg in 1694, later a student at the St. Apollinar College in Rome, where he was ordained priest in 1707 , and from 1709 back in Salzburg. In 1713 he became provost in Salzburg and in 1714 Salzburg cathedral dean.

In 1718 he was appointed by Pope Clement XI. appointed Bishop of Lavant. The Archbishop of Salzburg, Prince Franz Anton von Harrach zu Rorau , donated him his episcopal consecration on May 22, 1718 . Benedict XIII. appointed him in 1724 in addition to the bishop of the diocese of Seckau (Graz-Seckau). In 1727 he was appointed imperial privy councilor and also bishop of Ljubljana, and a short time later he was elected archbishop of the archbishopric of Salzburg. After two votes each on September 30th and October 2nd, 1727 and an hourly prayer on October 3rd, 1727, Firmian received the required number of votes on October 4th, 1727. 1738 he was by Pope Clement XII. with the title Excelsus ("Highness"), but he was not granted the hoped-for dignity of a cardinal.

Archbishop Firmian was buried on November 4, 1744 in the crypt of Salzburg Cathedral .

Act

He saw it as his goal to restore the “old power and glory” to the Catholic Church . Accordingly, he tried to convert the Protestant minority living in the archbishopric (especially in the Pongau) to the Catholic faith - he had Jesuits preach in the village squares, with all villagers having to appear under threat of heavy punishment. When this was unsuccessful, he had all Protestants expelled from the country within three months on the advice of his court chancellor Hieronymus Cristani von Rall in 1731/32. (Servants were for the most part arrested on site without immediate warning and immediately taken out of the country.) To enforce his order, Firmian brought over 6,000 Austrian soldiers to Salzburg.

Over 20,000 people had to give up their home for their faith ( Salzburg exiles ). Most found a new home in Prussia . However, more than a fifth of those deported did not survive the efforts of emigration. The deportation had catastrophic economic consequences for Salzburg. After the Protestants were driven out, Firmian divided the Salzburg territory into four mission areas: Augustinians, Capuchins, Benedictines and Franciscans.

Firmian had Klessheim Palace completed, he had the Kapitelschwemme and the Marstallschwemme redesigned and had the Leopoldskron Palace built for his nephew Franz Laktanz von Firmian , the expansion of the large Meierhof and the construction of the palace gardens including the large ponds and the surrounding ponds Horse chestnut avenues.

literature

Web links

Commons : Leopold Anton von Firmian  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b "Leopold Anton Eleutherius, Freiherr von Firmian" , salzburgcoins.at, January 19, 2007
personal data
SURNAME Firmian, Leopold Anton von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Firmian, Leopold Anton Eleutherius Imperial Baron von (full name); Firmian, Leopold Anton Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop in Lavant, Seckau and Laibach, Archbishop of Salzburg
DATE OF BIRTH May 27, 1679
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 1744
Place of death Salzburg