Franz Zorn Von Bulach

Weihbischof Zorn von Bulach, Straßburg JS

Franz Freiherr Zorn von Bulach (20 November 1858 – 13 January 1925) was a Catholic priest, a papal diplomat in Madrid, and auxiliary bishop in Strasbourg 1901–1919 and titular bishop of

Erythrae Erythrae or Erythrai ( el, Ἐρυθραί) later Litri, was one of the twelve Ionian cities of Asia Minor, situated 22 km north-east of the port of Cyssus (modern name: Çeşme), on a small peninsula stretching into the Bay of Erythrae ...

. Zorn von Bulach was born and died in Strasbourg. He came from an old Alsatian noble family, the Zorns. He was the son of François Zorn von Bulach (1828–1890), who was the chamberlain of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

and a deputy for Lower Alsace (

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...

), and his wife Antoinette ''née'' von Reinbach-Hirtzbach. Franz Zorn von Bulach studied law, then worked in the German Foreign Office for a short while. On 10 August 1891 he was ordained a priest in Strasbourg, was appointed to the papal diplomatic service and worked secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature in Madrid. In 1900, Franz Zorn von Bulach was the Alsatian preferred candidate for the vacant bishop's chair of

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

. The German Emperor

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...

, however, brought about the appointment of his favourite, the German Benedictine and Prussian subject

Willibrord Benzler Willibrord Benzler OSB (16 October 1853 – 16 April 1921) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Metz from 1901 to 1919. Life Born as Karl Heinrich Johann Eugen Benzler in Niederhemer, Westphalia, the eldest son of Karl Benzler, an innkeeper, an ...

. Franz Zorn von Bulach was instead appointed on 24 October 1901 as auxiliary bishop of his home diocese of Strasbourg, and titular bishop of Erythrae. He was consecrated a bishop on 3 November 1901 in Rome, by Francesco Cardinal Satolli, as well as curia archbishop Edmund Stonor and Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val y Zulueta (later the state secretary of Pius X). He exercised the office of auxiliary bishop of Strasbourg from 1901 to 1919, and from 1903 he was also the

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

of the diocese; this included the difficult time of the First World War, when the diocese was part of the battle area and numerous foreign soldiers were present. After France took over Alsace in 1919, the bishops appointed under the German government had to resign. This applied also to Franz Zorn von Bulach, who died in 1925 as a bishop emeritus. His brother Hugo Zorn von Bulach was a politician and representative at the German Reichstag. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulach, Franz Zorn von 1858 births 1925 deaths Clergy from Strasbourg 19th-century German Roman Catholic priests 20th-century German Roman Catholic bishops