Karl Klein (11 January 1819 – 6 February 1898) was the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Bishop of Limburg The Diocese of Limburg (Latin: ''Dioecesis Limburgensis'') is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Cologne, with metropolitan see being the Archdiocese of Cologne. Its territory encompasses ...

from 1886 to 1898. He restored the church after the

Kulturkampf (, 'culture struggle') was the conflict that took place from 1872 to 1878 between the Catholic Church led by Pope Pius IX and the government of Prussia led by Otto von Bismarck. The main issues were clerical control of education and ecclesiastic ...

and won orders to found or reestablish monasteries in the diocese.

Life and career

Klein was born in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

on 11 January 1819. He received an extensive academic education in theology

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

, Freiburg and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. He was ordained a

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 ...

on 4 November 1841. In 1843, he became secretary to Bishop , who was only ten years his senior. In 1867, Klein entered the

Prussian House of Representatives The Prussian House of Representatives (german: Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus) was the lower chamber of the Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag), the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the upper house, the House of ...

as a member of the Centre Party for the Lower Westerwald district. In 1876, Bishop Blum was no longer accepted by the Prussian government; threatened by disciplinary actions, he fled to Bohemia. Klein, then dean at the cathedral, became commissionary for his functions. Blum was pardoned and returned to Limburg in 1883. In 1886, Klein was appointed Bishop of Limburg by Pope Leo XIII as the successor to

Christian Roos Johannes Christian Roos (28 April 1826 in Kamp am Rhein – 22 October 1896 in Freiburg im Breisgau) was a German Roman Catholic clergyman. He was Bishop of Limburg from 1885 to 1886 and Archbishop of Freiburg The following men have been ar ...

. He was consecrated on 4 November 1886 by the former Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal

Paul Melchers Paul Melchers (6 January 1813 – 14 December 1895) was a Cardinal and Archbishop of Cologne. At the height of the '' Kulturkampf'' he took refuge in the Netherlands. Life Melchers was born in Münster. He studied law at Bonn (1830–33), an ...

. Klein had been favoured by the Prussian government over a candidate with political intentions, while Klein pursued no politics among the clergy, and was in this respect isolated among German bishops at the time. Together with Bishop Georg von Kopp of Fulda, Klein was the only German bishop who clearly spoke out in favour of the papal line and thus against the rejection of the by the Centre Party. Internally, he endeavoured above all to restore the ecclesiastical structures that had suffered under the

. During his tenure, several orders founded or reestablished monasteries in the diocese, including the

Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

, Pallottines and

Ursulines The Ursulines, also known as the Order of Saint Ursula (post-nominals: OSU), is an enclosed religious order of consecrated women that branched off from the Angelines, also known as the Company of Saint Ursula, in 1572. Like the Angelines, they t ...

. Klein consecrated many new church buildings personally. On 8 October 1888 he dedicated the first Catholic church of

Idstein Idstein () is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Because of its well preserved historical Altstadt (Old Town) it is part of the ''Deutsche Fachwerkstraße'' ...

to Mary Magdalene. He consecrated in

Bad Homburg Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's offic ...

, a new church in

Gothic revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

and in Frankfurt-Bornheim, both in 1895. In 1897, he consecrated St. Matthias in

Langendernbach Langendernbach is a village in the municipality Dornburg, Limburg-Weilburg district, Hesse, in western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous co ...

. Consecrating Mariä Himmelfahrt in

Frankfurt-Griesheim Griesheim () is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous me ...

in 1898 was one of the last functions he performed as bishop. Klein died in Limburg on 6 February 1898, at age 79.

References

Cited sources

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Karl 1819 births 1898 deaths 19th-century German Roman Catholic bishops Clergy from Frankfurt