Franz Xaver Dieringer

Franz Xaver Dieringer was a Catholic theologian (22 August 1811, at Rangendingen (Hohenzollern-Hechingen) – 8 September 1876, at Veringendorf (today a district of Veringenstadt)). He was a professor of dogma and homiletics at the University of Bonn.

Life

Dieringer studied theology at Tübingen, was ordained at Freiburg, 19 September 1835, and appointed instructor at the archiepiscopal seminary there. While there, he wrote the first volume of his "System of the Divine Deeds of Christianity". Because of this, he was denied Baden citizenship.Tüchle, Hermann, "Dieringer, Franz Xaver" in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 3 (1957), S. 657
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In 1840, Bishop Johannes von Geissel appointed Dieringer professor of dogma at the ecclesiastical seminary of Speyer and at Easter, 1841, he was also made professor of philosophy in the lyceum of the same city. From 1841 to 1843, Dieringer was editor of the ''Katholik'', a periodical founded in 1821 by Andreas Räss and Nicolaus von Weis, afterwards Bishops of Strasburg and Speyer respectively. The purpose was stated to be "to offer the necessary opposition to the attacks, partly open, partly concealed, against the Church, by orthodox articles on the doctrines of faith and morals, Church history and liturgy, the training of children, devotional exercises by the people, and all that belongs to the Catholic Faith".Löffler, Klemens. "Periodical Literature (Germany)." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 20 January 2021

Geissel became coadjutor bishop of Cologne. He ended the dissensions created by the Hermesian School by suspending the refractory Hermesian professors Braun and Achterfeldt of Bonn; and in the spring of 1843, reorganized the theological faculty of that university by calling in as professors the orthodox Dieringer and Martin. Dieringer was appointed professor in ordinary of dogma and homiletics, and provisional inspector of the preparatory seminary. Dieringer represented a traditional, romantic approach to Catholic studies, rather than the rationalist, enlightment-inspired style of the early part of the century.

When, at his instance, a homiletic-catechetical seminary was established in 1844, he took charge of the homiletic section. Besides performing the duties of his professorship, he published the "Katholische Zeitschrift fur Wissenschaft und Kunst," a periodical devoted to science and church interests, which he had founded in 1844 in opposition to the periodical of the Hermesians. From 1847 to 1849 it appeared as the "Katholische Vierteljahresschrift".

By the mid-1840s secular and Protestant book clubs and reading societies had sprung up in a number of cities. Dieringer took a prominent part in the founding of the Society of St. Charles Borromeo in 1845, of which he was at first secretary and then president from 1846-1871.

In 1853, though retaining his professorship and residing at Bonn, he was made canon of Cologne Cathedral and ecclesiastical councillor. In 1848 he represented the district of Neuss in the parliament at Frankfurt.Lauchert, Friedrich. "Franz Xaver Dieringer." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 20 January 2021 In April 1849, he took part in a debate in Cologne as to whether Catholic organizations should concern themselves just with religious questions or should speak out on all political issues as a Catholic political party. The discussion centered on the whether a Catholic political party would be good for the Church, and whether it would be more effective for Catholics to work through existing political parties.

His name was among those proposed in 1856 for the vacant See of Paderborn and in 1864 for the See of Trier

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