Wilhelm Emmanuel, Baron von Ketteler
Encyclopedia
Wilhelm Emmanuel Freiherr von Ketteler (25 December 1811 – 13 July 1877) was a German
theologian and politician
who served as Bishop of Mainz. His social teachings became influential during the papacy of Leo XIII and his encyclical Rerum Novarum
.
in Westphalia
. 1828 he finished the Matura
in Brig, Switzerland
far away of his home. He studied theology
at Göttingen
, Berlin
, Heidelberg
and Munich
, and was ordained priest in 1844. He resolved to consecrate his life to maintaining the cause of the freedom of the Church from the control of the State. This brought him into collision with the civil power, an attitude which he maintained throughout a stormy and eventful life.
, a position to which he was elected in 1848, and in which he soon became noted for his decision, foresight, energy and eloquence.
, by order of the Vatican
, in preference to the celebrated Professor Leopold Schmidt, of Gießen
, whose Liberal
sentiments were not agreeable to the Papal party. When elected, Ketteler refused to allow the students of theology in his diocese
to attend lectures at Giessen, and ultimately founded an opposition seminary in the diocese of Mainz itself.
, with Stephanie Amelia Starkenfels de la Roche At the death of St. Vincent de Paul, he spent two hours telling the story of his life and his miracles.
, Upper Bavaria
in 1877.
In Mainz, "Workers' Day" is celebrated in honor of the Bishop. The fuchsia
cultivar
"Baron de Ketteler" is named after him. Ketteler's nephew, Klemens von Ketteler
, was Germany's envoy in China and was murdered during the Boxer Rebellion
.
He is cited in Pope Benedict's encyclical Deus Caritas Est
for his role in the Catholic social tradition.
, a Lutheran woman from Prussian nobility, who indeed founded such a prayer society.
in Germany
. In 1863 he adopted Lassalle's
socialist
views, and published his Die Arbeitfrage und das Christenthum.
arose, he opposed the promulgation of the dogma on the ground that such promulgation was inopportune. But after the dogma was defined, he submitted to the decrees (in August 1870).
provoked by Prince Otto von Bismarck
after the publication of the Vatican decrees, and was largely instrumental in compelling that statesman to retract the pledge he had rashly given, never to "go to Canossa
."
, and declared the Rhine to be a "Catholic river."
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
theologian and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
who served as Bishop of Mainz. His social teachings became influential during the papacy of Leo XIII and his encyclical Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. It was an open letter, passed to all Catholic bishops, that addressed the condition of the working classes. The encyclical is entitled: “Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour”...
.
Early life and ordination
Ketteler was born in MünsterMünster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
in Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
. 1828 he finished the Matura
Matura
Matura or a similar term is the common name for the high-school leaving exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia,...
in Brig, Switzerland
Brig, Switzerland
Brig, officially Brig-Glis is a municipality in the district of Brig in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.The current municipality was formed in 1972 through the merger of Brig , Brigerbad and Glis.-History:...
far away of his home. He studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
at Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
and 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...
, and was ordained priest in 1844. He resolved to consecrate his life to maintaining the cause of the freedom of the Church from the control of the State. This brought him into collision with the civil power, an attitude which he maintained throughout a stormy and eventful life.
Scholar and politician
Ketteler was rather a man of action than a scholar, and he first distinguished himself as the deputy for District of Tecklenburg and Warendorf at the Frankfurt National AssemblyFrankfurt Parliament
The Frankfurt Assembly was the first freely elected parliament for all of Germany. Session was held from May 18, 1848 to May 31, 1849 in the Paulskirche at Frankfurt am Main...
, a position to which he was elected in 1848, and in which he soon became noted for his decision, foresight, energy and eloquence.
Bishop
In 1850 he was made bishop of MainzMainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
, by order of the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, in preference to the celebrated Professor Leopold Schmidt, of Gießen
Gießen
Gießen, also spelt Giessen is a town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of both the district of Gießen and the administrative region of Gießen...
, whose Liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
sentiments were not agreeable to the Papal party. When elected, Ketteler refused to allow the students of theology in his diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
to attend lectures at Giessen, and ultimately founded an opposition seminary in the diocese of Mainz itself.
Educator
He also founded orders of School Brothers and School Sisters, to work in the various educational agencies he had called into existence, and he labored to institute orphanages and rescue homes. In 1851, he founded the congregation of the Sisters of Divine ProvidenceCongregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence
The Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence is a Catholic religious order that was founded in 1851 in Germany by Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, Bishop of Mainz, and Stephanie Amelia Starkenfels de la Roche, a French noblewoman....
, with Stephanie Amelia Starkenfels de la Roche At the death of St. Vincent de Paul, he spent two hours telling the story of his life and his miracles.
Death and legacy
He died at BurghausenBurghausen
Burghausen may refer to several places in Germany:*Burghausen, Altötting, a town in southeastern Bavaria*Burghausen bei Münnerstadt, part of Münnerstadt in northern Bavaria*Burghausen bei Freising, part of Kirchdorf an der Amper in central Bavaria...
, Upper Bavaria
Upper Bavaria
Upper Bavaria is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany.- Geography :Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered around the city of Munich. It is subdivided into four regions : Ingolstadt, Munich, Bayerisches Oberland , and Südostoberbayern...
in 1877.
In Mainz, "Workers' Day" is celebrated in honor of the Bishop. The fuchsia
Fuchsia
Fuchsia is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. The first, Fuchsia triphylla, was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1703 by the French Minim monk and botanist, Charles Plumier...
cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
"Baron de Ketteler" is named after him. Ketteler's nephew, Klemens von Ketteler
Klemens von Ketteler
Clemens August Freiherr von Ketteler was a German career diplomat. He was killed during the Boxer Rebellion.-Family and early career:...
, was Germany's envoy in China and was murdered during the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
.
He is cited in Pope Benedict's encyclical Deus Caritas Est
Deus Caritas Est
Deus Caritas Est is a 2006 encyclical—the first written by Pope Benedict XVI, in large part derived from writings by his late predecessor, Pope John Paul II. Its subject is love, as seen through a Christian perspective, and God's place within all love...
for his role in the Catholic social tradition.
Protestantism
In 1861, Ketteler published a book on reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants in Germany, Freiheit, Autorität, und Kirche; in it, he proposed the founding of a prayer society "for the Reunion of Christendom". Ketteler was friends with Julie von MassowJulie von Massow
Julie von Massow was a Prussian woman who started a movement, Ut Omnes Unum, "that all may be one", which promoted reconciliation between the Christian churches, a policy known as reunionism.-Biography:...
, a Lutheran woman from Prussian nobility, who indeed founded such a prayer society.
Church rights
In 1858, Ketteler threw down the gauntlet against the State in his pamphlet on the rights of the Roman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In 1863 he adopted Lassalle's
Ferdinand Lassalle
Ferdinand Lassalle was a German-Jewish jurist and socialist political activist.-Early life:Ferdinand Lassalle was born on 11 April 1825 in Breslau , Silesia to a prosperous Jewish family descending from Upper Silesian Loslau...
socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
views, and published his Die Arbeitfrage und das Christenthum.
Papal infallibility
When the question of papal infallibilityPapal infallibility
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals...
arose, he opposed the promulgation of the dogma on the ground that such promulgation was inopportune. But after the dogma was defined, he submitted to the decrees (in August 1870).
Kulturkampf
He was the warmest opponent of the State in the KulturkampfKulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
provoked by Prince Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
after the publication of the Vatican decrees, and was largely instrumental in compelling that statesman to retract the pledge he had rashly given, never to "go to Canossa
Canossa
Canossa is a comune and castle town in Emilia-Romagna, famous as the site where Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV did penance in 1077, standing three days bare-headed in the snow, in order to reverse his excommunication by Pope Gregory VII...
."
Battle of Sedan
To such an extent did Bishop von Ketteler carry his opposition, that in 1874 he forbade his clergy to take part in celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of SedanBattle of Sedan
The Battle of Sedan was fought during the Franco-Prussian War on 1 September 1870. It resulted in the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and large numbers of his troops and for all intents and purposes decided the war in favour of Prussia and its allies, though fighting continued under a new French...
, and declared the Rhine to be a "Catholic river."