Eduard Michael Johann Maria Freiherr von der Ropp (1851–1939) was a Polish nobleman of Baltic German origins and

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

metropolitan archbishop. He was born 14 December 1851 near

Līksna Līksna (german: Lixna, pl, Liksna) is a village in Līksna Parish, Augšdaugava Municipality in the Latgale region of Latvia. It is the birthplace of Eduard von der Ropp, a Roman Catholic bishop in Tiraspol, Vilnius and Mahiliou. It was als ...

in present-day

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

Jānis Svilāns and Alberts Budže (2008), ''Latvijas Romas Katoļu Priesteri, I'', p. 229, and died on 25 July 1939 in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Early life

Eduard von der Ropp was the third of four sons of Emmerich Julius

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

von der Ropp, a Polonized descendant of the Baltic German nobility. His father was a direct descendant of Theodoricus de Raupena, the eldest brother of Bishop Albert who founded the city of

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

in 1201. His mother, Izabela Józefa Plater-Zyberk, daughter of civil vicegovernor of Vilnius

Michał Plater-Zyberk Michał Plater-Zyberk (28 December, 1777 – 1862, ) – Polish nobleman, naturalist, civilian Vilna Governorate, vice-governor of Vilnius. Biography His parents were and Izabela Borch, daughter of , Great Crown Chancellor. In 1803, he married ...

, was from a family which owned estates at both Lixna (Līksna) in

Latgale Latgale ( ltg, Latgola; ; ger, Lettgallen; be, Латгалія, Łathalija; pl, Łatgalia; la, Lettgallia), also known as Latgalia is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region and is north of the Daugava River. While m ...

(then

Vitebsk Governorate Vitebsk Governorate (russian: Витебская губерния, ) was an administrative unit ( guberniya) of the Russian Empire, with the seat of governorship in Vitebsk. It was established in 1802 by splitting the Byelorussia Governorate and ...

) and Bewern (Bebrene) in

Sēlija Selonia ( lv, Sēlija; lt, Sėla), also known as Augšzeme (the "Highland"), is one of the Historical Latvian Lands encompassing the eastern part of the historical region of Semigallia ( lv, Zemgale) as well as a portion of northeastern Lithuani ...

(then

Courland Governorate The Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland, Governorate of Kurland (german: Kurländisches Gouvernement; russian: Курля́ндская губерния, translit=Kurljándskaja gubernija; lv, Kurzemes guberņa; lt, K ...

) . He received his university education in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and graduated in 1875. After graduation he remained in Saint Petersburg working for the Russian government. In 1886, he decided to enter the Roman Catholic seminary in Kaunas.Jānis Broks (2002), ''Katolicisms Latvijā 800 Gados: 1186-1986, Vēsturisks Atskats'', p. 250, In 1889 he was ordained

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

for the

diocese of Samogitia The Archdiocese of Kaunas ( la, Archidioecesis Kaunensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Lithuania. The episcopal see is in Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania. The archdiocese's ...

. After ordination, Fr. von der Ropp was sent to Liepāja in

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...

where he worked as a parish priest for 13 years. There he began enlargement of a small church building into what is now the Cathedral of St. Joseph. In 1893 he was given additional responsibility as the vicar of all parishes in Courland.

Episcopal ministry

Von der Ropp was appointed bishop of Tiraspol in southern Russia on 9 June 1902 by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

. He was ordained bishop in

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...

on 16 November 1902. Only a year later on 9 November 1903 he was appointed bishop of Vilnius by

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

. On 2 December 1903, von der Ropp was installed in Vilnius Cathedral. He traveled back to Saratov in 1904 to co-consecrate his successor as bishop of Tiraspol

Josef Alois Kessler Joseph Aloysius Kessler (german: Josef Alois Kessler, russian: Иосиф Алоиз Кесслер; August 12, 1862 – December 10, 1933) was the last bishop of the Diocese of Tiraspol (Russia) and the last Volga German bishop till Bishop Joseph ...

on 10 November. After the

1905 revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

, von der Ropp was elected to the

first Duma The State Duma, also known as the Imperial Duma, was the lower house of the Governing Senate in the Russian Empire, while the upper house was the State Council. It held its meetings in the Taurida Palace in St. Petersburg. It convened four times ...

. In 1907 he was exiled to

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

by the

Imperial Russian Government The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

. On 25 July 1917, he was appointed metropolitan

archbishop of Mohilev The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mohilev (or Mogilev or Mahilyow) was a territorial Latin rite division of the Roman Catholic Church, covering a significant western proportion of the territory of the Tsarist Russian empire. History It was ere ...

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (Latin: ''Benedictus XV''; it, Benedetto XV), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, name=, group= (; 21 November 185422 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His ...

. He returned to Saint Petersburg to take up this post, and, following the

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...

, Archbishop von der Ropp, decreed that all his priests would take a role in organizing a Christian Democratic Party to participate in the planned

Russian Constituent Assembly The All Russian Constituent Assembly (Всероссийское Учредительное собрание, Vserossiyskoye Uchreditelnoye sobraniye) was a constituent assembly convened in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917. It met fo ...

in order to defend the rights of the Catholic Church in Russia. In this, the Archbishop was sharply opposed by both Auxiliary Bishop

Jan Cieplak Jan Cieplak (17 August 1857 – 17 February 1926) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest and archbishop. Early life Jan Cieplak was born in Dąbrowa Górnicza, Congress Poland, in 1857 to an impoverished family of the Polish nobility. He attended the ...

and Monsignor Konstanty Budkiewicz, who both opposed any politicization of the Catholic religion. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

, Archbishop von der Ropp came into conflict with the new

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. In 1919, he was arrested during the

Red Terror The Red Terror (russian: Красный террор, krasnyj terror) in Soviet Russia was a campaign of political repression and executions carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police. It started in lat ...

by the

CHEKA The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə), abbreviated ...

and received a death sentence for

anti-Soviet agitation Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (ASA) (russian: антисове́тская агита́ция и пропага́нда (АСА)) was a criminal offence in the Soviet Union. To begin with the term was interchangeably used with counter-revolu ...

,Svilāns and Budže (2008), p. 230 but was instead deported to the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

in 1920 on the intercession of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

appointed him an assistant at the Pontifical Throne on 28 May 1927. Unable to return to Russia, he lived in Poland with one of his nephews until his death in 1939. He traveled to Latvia in 1924 to attend the ingress of Archbishop

Antonijs Springovičs Antonijs Springovičs (1 November 1876 – 1 October 1958) was a Roman Catholic Latvian prelate who became the first Archbishop of Riga in 1923. Early years Antonijs Springovičs was born on 31 October 1876 in Rēzekne, Latvia. In 1897 he joine ...

at the Cathedral of St. James in Riga on 4 May and to co-consecrate the new auxiliary bishop of Riga

Jāzeps Rancāns Jāzeps is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the given name Joseph. People bearing the name include: *Jāzeps Grosvalds (1891–1920), Latvian painter *Jāzeps Pīgoznis (1934–2014), Latvian painter * Jāzeps Vītols (1863–1 ...

the same day.Broks (2002), p. 310 Von der Ropp is buried in the

Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, Poznań A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

References

Bibliography

*
"Ropp"
''Neue Deutsche Biographie'', Duncker & Humblot GmbH, Berlin (2005), vol. 22, pp. 33–35, *

''Neue Deutsche Biographie'', Duncker & Humblot GmbH, Berlin (2005), vol. 22, pp. 49–50,

External links

*

*

*
Emmerich Julius Baron von der Ropp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ropp, Eduard von der 1851 births 1939 deaths People from Augšdaugava Municipality People from Dvinsky Uyezd Baltic-German people Barons of Germany Barons of Poland Latvian Roman Catholic bishops Bishops of Vilnius Members of the 1st State Duma of the Russian Empire Roman Catholic bishops in the Soviet Union 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Lithuania 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Russian Empire Anti-communists from the Russian Empire Roman Catholic activists Russian people of Baltic German descent Polish Christian democrats Latvian Christian democrats

Early life

Episcopal ministry

See also

References

Bibliography

External links