Franz Wilhelm von Wartenberg
Encyclopedia
Franz Wilhelm, Count von Wartenberg (born at Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, 1 March 1593; died at Ratisbon, 1 December 1661) was a Bavarian Catholic Bishop of Osnabrück
Bishop of Osnabrück
The Bishop of Osnabrück is the ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Osnabrück, the current incumbent is Franz-Josef Hermann Bode. Theodor Kettmann is his auxiliary bishop.- List of Bishops of Osnabrück :*Paul Ludolf Melchers...

, expelled from his see in the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

 and later restored, and at the end of his life a Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

.

Life

He was the eldest son of William V, Duke of Bavaria
William V, Duke of Bavaria
William V, Duke of Bavaria , called the Pious, was Duke of Bavaria from 1579 to 1597.- Education and early life :...

 and his morganatic wife Maria Pettenbeckin. He was educated by the Jesuits, at Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...

 (1601-8), and at the Germanicum in Rome (1608-14).

In 1621 he became manager of the governmental affairs of the Elector Ferdinand of Cologne, who appointed him president of his council and brought him to the Diet of Ratisbon
Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire)
The Imperial Diet was the Diet, or general assembly, of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire.During the period of the Empire, which lasted formally until 1806, the Diet was not a parliament in today's sense; instead, it was an assembly of the various estates of the realm...

 in 1622. On 26 October, 1625, he was elected Bishop of Osnabrück, receiving papal approbation 25 April, 1626.

The three preceding bishops had been Protestants and had replaced most of the Catholic priests by Protestant preachers. Cardinal Eitel Friedrich
Eitel Frederick von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Eitel Friedrich von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was a Roman Catholic Cardinal-Priest, Bishop of Osnabrück and member of the noble and ancient Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family....

, who succeeded them, endeavoured to restore the Catholic religion but soon died. With the help of Tilly
Tilly
Tilly may refer to:People* James Tilly Matthews, the first fully documented case of paranoid schizophrenia* Charles Tilly, sociologist* Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly, French general in the Napoleonic Wars* Jennifer Tilly, actress, poker player...

, Wartenberg took possession of his see (12 March, 1628), which had been occupied by Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 soldiers. He began the work of Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...

, drove the Protestant preachers from the city and restored the churches to the Catholics. He eliminated the anti-Catholic element from the city council; took the system of education into his own hands; turned the former Augustinian convent over to the Jesuits whom he engaged as teachers at the Gymnasium Carolinum; restored various religious communities and established new ones; held synods and visitations, and enforced the Tridentine
Tridentine
The adjective Tridentine refers to any thing or person pertaining to the city of Trent, Italy .It is applied in particular to:*The Council of Trent, one of the ecumenical councils recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, held in that city in the 16th century, and to the teachings emphasized by it...

 decrees where possible. In 1631, he founded a university which, however, was destroyed by the Swedes in 1633.

Wartenberg was commissioned with the execution of the Edict of Restitution
Edict of Restitution
The Edict of Restitution, passed eleven years into the Thirty Years' Wars on March 6, 1629 following Catholic successes at arms, was a belated attempt by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor to impose and restore the religious and territorial situations reached in the Peace of Augsburg...

 (1629) in Lower Saxony
Lower Saxon Circle
The Lower Saxon Circle was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. Covering much of the territory of the mediæval Duchy of Saxony , firstly the circle used to be called the Saxon Circle , only to be later better differentiated from the Upper Saxon Circle the more specific name prevailed.An...

, and was elected later to the provostry
Provost (religion)
A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical Development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...

 of the collegiate church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...

 of Ss. Cassius and Florentius
Bonn Minster
The Bonn Minster is one of Germany's oldest churches, having been built between the 11th and 13th centuries. At one point the church served as the cathedral for the Archbishopric of Cologne...

 in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

. He was chosen Prince-Bishop of Verden (1630), Bishop of Minden (1631), and appointed Vicar Apostolic of Bremen by Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X , born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj , was Pope from 1644 to 1655. Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle...

 (1645). In 1633 Osnabrück capitulated to the Swedes and Wartenberg had to yield his see to Gustavus of Wasaburg
Gustav, Count of Vasaborg
Count Gustav Gustavsson af Vasaborg, 1st Count of Nystad was an illegitimate son of King Gustavus Adolphus and his mistress Margareta Slots. -Biography:...

, an illegitimate son of Gustavus Adolphus.

During his forced exile, Wartenberg, who had not yet received any of the major orders, was ordained priest and consecrated bishop at Ratisbon in 1636. In 1641 he went to Rome and upon his return was elected Coadjutor Bishop of Ratisbon cum jure successionis, succeeding on 9 April, 1650.

In the negotiations of the Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...

 (1645-8) he represented the Catholic electors. Though preventing the intended secularization of his see by the Swedes, he had to yield to the stipulation that after his death the See of Osnabrück should be alternately administered by a Protestant and by a Catholic bishop. Wartenberg was to keep the See of Osnabrück, but the Sees of Verden, Minden, and Bremen fell into the hands of Protestants, Wartenberg, however, retaining spiritual jurisdiction over them.

On 18 December, 1650, he took possession of the See of Osnabrück and worked to restore the Catholic religion. On 5 April, 1661, he was created cardinal-priest by Pope Alexander VII
Pope Alexander VII
Pope Alexander VII , born Fabio Chigi, was Pope from 7 April 1655, until his death.- Early life :Born in Siena, a member of the illustrious banking family of Chigi and a great-nephew of Pope Paul V , he was privately tutored and eventually received doctorates of philosophy, law, and theology from...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK