Leopold von Sedlnitzky

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Leopold von Sedlnitzky or Leopold Sedlnitzky von Choltitz (also: Leopold Graf Sedlnitzky Odrowąż von Choltitz ; also Siedlnicky Odrowoncz or Count Sedlnitzky for short ; * July 29, 1787 in Geppersdorf / Duchy of Leobschütz , Austrian Silesia or Prussian Silesia ; †  March 25, 1871 in Berlin ) was Prince-Bishop of Breslau from 1836 to 1840 .

Episcopal coat of arms

Origin and career

Sedlnitzky came from the Moravian-Silesian noble family of Sedlnitzky von Choltitz . His parents, Imperial Count Joseph von Sedlnitzky and Maria Josepha, née Countess von Haugwitz , determined him early on for a spiritual career. At the age of eleven he received a canon position at the Wroclaw Cathedral , and in 1802 a canon at the Neißer Kollegiatkirche.

After training by private tutors, he studied philosophy and theology at the University of Breslau from October 1804 . Because of the threat to Breslau from the French army , he returned to Geppersdorf in 1807 and continued his studies privately. In 1809 he passed the theological exam and in 1811 was ordained a priest by Prince-Bishop Hohenlohe in the Kreuzkirche in Breslau .

Since he could not accept a pastoral position for health reasons, he joined the Episcopal Vicariate as assessor and secretary , where he was soon exposed to hostility and suspicion. Among other things, he was accused of being a member of the Bible Society founded by Johann Michael Sailer , which advocated unification of denominations on the basis of biblical values, whereby Sedlnitzky had distanced himself from Catholic teaching. Because of the disputes, he gave up the vicariate and became royal councilor of the Provincial Consistory at the Wroclaw High Presidium , which continued to promote Sedlnitzky's ecclesiastical advancement.

In 1819 he became the cathedral capitular in Breslau , and in 1830, with royal support , he became the cathedral provost . After the death of Prince-Bishop Emanuel von Schimonsky , he was appointed vicar capitular on December 18, 1832 .

Bishop of Wroclaw

Coat of arms of the Prince-Bishop of Wroclaw

At the request of the Prussian government, the cathedral chapter unanimously elected Leopold von Sedlnitzky as bishop in 1835, although the curia had strong reservations about his election, as he represented the position of the Catholic Enlightenment. After Pope Gregory XVI. on 11 July 1836 its approval was given, the adopted on 18 September of Gniezno Archbishop Martin Dunin the episcopal ordination before.

Soon after his ordination he was exposed to further suspicions within the diocese. Nevertheless, he went on company and visitation trips and initiated fundamental administrative reforms in the part of the diocese, which was then in Austrian Silesia. After he advocated state legislation in the so-called mixed marriage dispute as a Prussian citizen from 1837 and thus the tolerance of non-Catholic child-rearing in an interdenominational marriage, he learned from Pope Gregory XVI. with Breve of January 18, 1839, who described him as “lazy and sleeping” ( segmem ac veluti ), a sharp rebuke in which he was also accused of supporting Hermesianism . Sedlnitzky then renounced his episcopal office on July 18, 1840. On October 10th of that year the Pope accepted the resignation.

Denomination change

Sedlnitzky now lived in Berlin, where he was appointed a member of the Prussian Council of State by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV and provided with a state pension because he had renounced the income from his previous episcopal position. Due to the increasing ultramontanism he distanced himself internally from the Catholic Church in the next few years, so that his conversion to the Protestant denomination, which caused a sensation, was only a consequence of this development.

On the first Advent (November 30th) 1862 he received the Protestant Lord's Supper for the first time in St. Mary's Church . In the same year he donated the Paulinum in Berlin , a dormitory for Protestant high school students, and in 1869 the Johanneum , a Konvikt for Protestant theology students . He joined the Protestant Church on April 12, 1863. In his will he also considered the Wroclaw Protestant Theologian Convict.

After his death he was buried according to his wishes in the Protestant cemetery in Rankau in the district of Breslau .

His brother Josef was an Austrian civil servant.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Leopold von Sedlnitzky  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Felix Triest : Topographisches Handbuch von Oberschlesien ; On behalf of the Royal Government and according to official sources, edited by Felix Triest, Royal Government Assessor; Korn, Wroclaw. Volume 2, 1864, p. 868.
  2. ↑ Michael Sachs: 'Prince Bishop and Vagabond'. The story of a friendship between the Prince-Bishop of Breslau Heinrich Förster (1799–1881) and the writer and actor Karl von Holtei (1798–1880). Edited textually based on the original Holteis manuscript. In: Medical historical messages. Journal for the history of science and specialist prose research. Volume 35, 2016 (2018), pp. 223–291, here: pp. 274 f.
  3. ↑ Michael Sachs (2016), p. 277.
predecessor Office successor
Emanuel von Schimonsky Bishop of Breslau
1836 - 1840 		Joseph Knauer
personal data
SURNAME Sedlnitzky, Leopold von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Choltitz, Leopold Count Sedlnitzky Odrowąż von; Siedlnicky Odrowoncz, Leopold von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince-Bishop of Wroclaw
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1787
PLACE OF BIRTH Geppersdorf , Austrian Silesia
DATE OF DEATH March 25, 1871
Place of death Berlin