Wenzeslaus of Thun ( Tetschen, 13 August 1629 -

Passau Passau (; bar, label=Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's popu ...

, 6 January 1673) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

clergyman and

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

for the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Passau The Diocese of Passau is a Roman Catholic diocese in Germany that is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.Thun und Hohenstein The House of Thun und Hohenstein, also known as Thun-Hohenstein, belonged to the historical Austrian and Bohemian nobility. There is one princely and several comital branches of the family. The princely branch of the family lived at Děčín (Te ...

and his second wife Anna Margareta von Wolkenstein.
He was the half-brother of the two Salzburg prince-archbishops Guidobald and

Johann Ernst von Thun und Hohenstein Johann Ernst Graf von Thun und Hohenstein (3 July 1643 – 20 April 1709) was Bishop of Seckau from 1679 to 1687 and Prince-archbishop of Salzburg from 1687 until his death. Life and career Born in Prague, Bohemia, he was a member of the Tyrol ...

. Wenzeslaus von Thun und Hohenstein was ordained a priest in 1655. During the city fire of 1662, Wenzeslaus von Thun was the

cathedral-provost and, after St. Stephen's Cathedral had been partially destroyed by the flames , advocated building a modern baroque cathedral. To do this, he got the Italian master builder

Carlo Lurago Carlo Lurago (also spelled Luraghi) (1615 – 22 October 1684) was an Italian architect, who was most active in Prague. He was born in Pellio Superiore in the Val d'Intelvi, near Como. At the age of 23, as an already an accomplished plasterer, ...

from Prague, who was commissioned to build a baroque cathedral, integrating the remains of the Gothic cathedral. Just two years after the city fire, the only 35-year-old Wenzeslaus, who had previously been a canon in Salzburg and a capitular in Passau, was elected on 27 March 1664 to succeed Karl Joseph of Austria and thus become the new prince-bishop. The episcopal consecration followed on 20 April. On 10 August 1665 he was also elected

Bishop of Gurk The Bishop of Gurk is the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk, which was established in 1072 as the first suffragan bishop by Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg, Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg in the Duchy of Carinthia. Initially perfo ...

. He dedicated his reign as Prince Bishop of Passau to the reconstruction of the cathedral and the repair of the damage caused by the Thirty Years' War. In addition, a serious quarrel arose between him and the Passau Jesuits, which ultimately even entailed the withdrawal of priestly training for the Jesuits. Wenzeslaus von Thun was the first bishop to be buried in the newly built bishop's crypt under St. Stephen's Cathedral in Passau. His monument is to the left of the high altar.

References

Sources

* Roswitha Juffinger, Christoph Brandhuber: ''Wenzel Graf von Thun (1629-1673)''. In: Roswitha Juffinger (Hrsg.): ''Erzbischof Guidobald Graf von Thun 1654–1668. Ein Bauherr für die Zukunft.'' Residenzgalerie, Salzburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-901443-32-9, Pages 39–42. * Franz Mader: ''Tausend Passauer. Biographisches Lexikon zu Passaus Stadtgeschichte.'' Neue-Presse-Verlags-GmbH, Passau 1995, ISBN 3-924484-98-8. * Jakob Obersteiner: ''Die Bischöfe von Gurk. 1072–1822'' (). Verlag des Geschichtsvereins für Kärnten, Klagenfurt 1969, Pages 392–396. {{DEFAULTSORT:Thun, Wenzeslaus von Thun und Hohenstein 1673 deaths Czech Roman Catholic bishops 1629 births Roman Catholic bishops of Passau Bishops of Gurk