The Würzburg Bishops' Conference of 1848 was a four-week workshop of the German Catholic bishops in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

. It can be regarded as the birth of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

bishops' conferences.

History

The hastily called meeting began on 21 October 1848, just three weeks after the Cologne Archbishop

Johannes von Geissel Johannes von Geissel (5 February 1796 – 8 September 1864) was a German Catholic Archbishop of Cologne and Cardinal from the Electorate of the Palatinate. Life Gessel was born in Gimmeldingen in the Electorate of the Palatinate. After ...

had issued the invitations. It ended unexpectedly after lengthy deliberations on 16 November. Twenty-five diocesan bishops or their representatives, and selected theological advisers, participated. However, no laymen participated. The venue was the Würzburg seminary, for the last three days of the Franciscan monastery of

. It was hosted by the Bishop of Würzburg . The bishops had a strict work discipline with eight hours of daily conferences. The liturgical high point was a Pontifical Mass in the

Würzburg Cathedral Würzburg Cathedral () is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, dedicated to Saint Kilian. It is the seat of the Bishop of Würzburg and has served as the burial place for the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg for hundreds of ye ...

under the direction of the Primate Germaniae of Archbishop

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Friedrich Johannes Jacob Celestin von Schwarzenberg Friedrich Prince zu Schwarzenberg, or in Czech Bedřich prince ze Schwarzenberg (April 6, 1809 in Vienna, Austria – March 27, 1885 in Vienna, Austria) was a Catholic Cardinal of the nineteenth century in Austria and the Kingdom of Bohemia and a ...

. A noteworthy sign was the charitable feeding of 300 poor citizens of Würzburg. The bishops worked at the tables serving the poor. The shortness of the advance notice, the high number of participants and the long duration of the meeting are evidence of the urgency of the issues at hand. The end of the ecclesiastical order with their spiritual territories was less than 50 years ago and the reorganization of the German dioceses only 25 years. Since 18 May 1848, in the

Frankfurt Parliament The Frankfurt National Assembly () was the first freely elected parliament for all German Confederation, German states, including the German-populated areas of the Austrian Empire, elected on 1 May 1848 (see German federal election, 1848). The ...

there was a controversial discussion about the future government and constitutional order in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the bishops didn't want to be bystanders only. They formulated policy statements on the relationship between church and state, the church school inspection, the legal status of the clergy and on issues of societal and social order. They adopted three memoranda: one to all the faithful, one to the government and one to the clergy. However, the intended official national synod did not follow, because for it a papal authorization was required, and the Curia was afraid of national church tendencies, because the Bavarian bishops in the

Freising Bishops' Conference {{Expand language, topic=, langcode=de, date=May 2024 The Freising Bishops' Conference was founded in 1850 for the Bishops of the dioceses in the Kingdom of Bavaria. In it the bishops of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising in southern Bavaria, ...

and the bishops of the Habsburg monarchy in the Episcopal Conference of Austria went their own ways.

Participants

The lithography above shows from left to right in the... first row: * Karl August von Reisach (1800–1869), Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal later * Maximilian Joseph Gottfried von Sommerau Beeckh (1769–1853), Archbishop of Olomouc * Bonifaz Kaspar von Urban (1773–1858), Archbishop of

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

(1809–1885), archbishop of

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

, and later Cardinal Archbishop of

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

(1796–1864), Archbishop of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Cardinal later * Hermann von Vicari (1773–1868), Archbishop of

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

* Galura Bernhard (1764–1856), Bishop of

Brixen Brixen (; , ; or , ) is a town and communes of Italy, commune in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about north of Bolzano. Geography Brixen is the third-largest city and oldest town in the province, with a population of nearly twenty-three t ...

second row: *

Melchior von Diepenbrock Melchior, Freiherr von Diepenbrock (6 January 1798 at Bocholt in Westphalia – 20 January 1853 at the castle of Johannesberg in Jauernig) was a German Catholic Prince-Bishop of Breslau and Cardinal. Life He attended the military acade ...

(1798–1853), prince bishop of Breslau, later Cardinal, also a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly * Carl Anton Lüpke (1775–1855), senior bishop of

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

and titular bishop of Anthedon * Peter von Richarz (1783–1855), Bishop of

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

* Peter Leopold Kaiser (1788–1848), Bishop of

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

* Henry of Hofstätter (1805–1875), Bishop of

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

* Georg Anton von Stahl (1805–1870), Bishop of

third row: *

Johann Georg Müller Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name '' Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

(1798–1870), Bishop of

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

, also a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly * Valentine of Riedel (1802–1857),

Bishop of Regensburg The Bishops of Regensburg (; or ) are bishops of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Regensburg in Bavaria, Germany.

Nicholas Weis Nicolaus von Weis (born Rimling, Moselle (department), Moselle, France, 8 March 1796 - died Speyer, 13 December 1869) was from 1842 to 1869 Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer, in the Palatinate (region), Palatinate (in that time a ...

(1796–1869),

Bishop of Speyer The Bishop of Speyer is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer, which is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Bamberg.

* (1780–1849), Bishop of

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

* William Arnoldi (1798–1864), Bishop of

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

* Peter Josef Blum, (1808–1884), Bishop of

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

* Franz Drepper (1787–1855), Bishop of

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

* Anastasius Sedlag (1787–1856), Bishop of Kulm (

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

) * George von Oettl (1794–1866), Bishop of

Eichstätt Eichstätt () is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Dioce ...

* Josef von Lipp (1794–1869),

Bishop of Rottenburg The Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg, '' B ...

* Joseph Dittrich († 1853), Titular Bishop of

Corycus Corycus (; also transliterated Corycos or Korykos; ; , lit. "maiden castle") was an ancient city in Cilicia Trachaea, Anatolia, located at the mouth of the valley called Şeytan deresi; the site is now occupied by the town of Kızkalesi (for ...

, Apostolic Vicar in the

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony () was a German monarchy in Central Europe between 1806 and 1918, the successor of the Electorate of Saxony. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, later joining the German ...

Not shown in the picture is Franz Grossmann of the

Prince-Bishopric of Warmia The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia (; ) was a semi-independent ecclesiastical state, ruled by the incumbent ordinary of the Warmia see and comprising one third of the then diocesan area. The Warmia see was a Prussian diocese under the jurisdictio ...

who represented Bishop Joseph Ambrose Geritz. Also, other clerics took part as consultants, e.g. the Cathedral Provost of Cologne Eduard Herzog.

References

Catholic Würzburg Sonntagsblatt B 7432 No. 6 of 10 February 2008, Volume 155

External links

* http://www.wuerzburg.de/de/themen/kultur-bildung-kulturangebot/stadtarchiv/veranstaltungenundpublikati {{DEFAULTSORT:Wurzburg Bishops' Conference Defunct episcopal conferences Catholic Church in Germany 1848 in the German Confederation 1848 in Christianity 19th-century Catholicism 1848 conferences History of Würzburg 1848 in Bavaria