Ernest Johann Nepomuk (20 April 1731 – 17 March 1788), Imperial Count von Herberstein, was the first bishop of the

diocese of Linz The Diocese of Linz ( la, Dioecesis Linciensis) is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Vienna, Austria. History Early history In the early Middle Ages the greater part of the territory of the present Diocese of Linz was subject to the bishops of ...

from 1785 to 1788.

Life

Ernest Johann Nepomuk was born on 20 April 1731 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria. He was ordained a priest of

Freising Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising ''Landkreis'' (district), with a population of about 50,000. Location Freising is the oldest town between Regensburg and Bolzano, and is located on the Is ...

, Germany on 7 March 1754. On 16 February he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Freising and Titular Bishop of Eucarpia. He was consecrated on 8 March 1767. Nepomuk was chosen as Bishop of Linz, Austria on 1 January 1785, and confirmed in this position of 14 February 1785. He was installed on 1 May 1785. He died in office on 17 March 1788.

Imperial nomination

Formerly

titular Bishop of Eucarpia Eucarpia or Eukarpia ( grc, Εὐκαρπία) was a city in Phrygia and a bishopric in the late Roman province of Phrygia Salutaris, in Asia Minor. Location Eukarpia, mentioned by Strabo (XII, 576) and several other geographers, was situate ...

, he had been the Official of the Prince-Bishop of Passau and Vicar-General of Lower Austria. The appointment was confirmed by the pope on 14 February 1785, and the bishop was enthroned on 1 May 1785. By order of the emperor the cathedral chapter was to consist of a vicar-general, a provost, a dean, a custos, and thirteen simple ecclesiastics; the members were appointed by the emperor, before the approval of the pope was received.

Erection of the diocese

The Bull of Erection assigned the ancient parish church of Linz as the cathedral, but the former church of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

was, without notification to the Papal See of the substitution, at once chosen in its place; it was not until 1841 that the

Old Cathedral, Linz , image = Alter Dom Linz (DFdB).JPG , imagesize = , imagealt = , landscape = , caption = Old Cathedral from the roof of the "Passage" shopping mall , pushpin map ...

, was sanctioned by a Bull.

Endowment of the diocese

In 1789, the endowment of the diocese was fixed at 12,000 gulden ($4,800), to which were added the revenues from the property of several suppressed monasteries. The territorial limits of the diocese corresponded to those of the crownland of

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

with the addition of several parishes of

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

, to the separation of which the

Archbishop of Salzburg The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg ( la, Archidioecesis Salisburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria. The archdiocese is one of two Austrian archdioceses, serving alongside the Archdiocese of ...

gave his consent in 1786. At the time of its foundation, the diocese included 26 deaneries with 404 parishes.

Government intervention

The new

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

, like the whole of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

at that time, suffered much from ordinances of government officials. They intervened in almost all domains of Church life and often subjected bishop, clergy, and laity to regulations. In all these innovations the Bishop of Linz and his chapter aided and supported the government. Not only in secular matters did the bishop ask for the assistance of the provincial government at Linz, he also sought to obtain the approbation of the civil authorities for the statutes of his chapter, as well as for the episcopal and consistorial seals.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nepomuk, Ernest Johann 18th-century Austrian people Bishops of Linz Counts of Austria Clergy from Vienna 1731 births 1788 deaths