Leopold von Sedlnitzky

COA of bishop Sedlnitzky Leopold.

Leopold von Sedlnitzky was a nineteenth century Roman Catholic bishop of Wrocław, who after abdicating as bishop converted to Protestantism.

Early life

Leopold von Sedlnitzky also known as Count Leopold Sedlnitzky Odrowąż Choltitz was born July 29, 1787 in Geppersdorf, Austrian Silesia.[1] He came from the Moravian-Silesian noble family of Sedlnitzky Choltitz. His parents, Joseph Imperial Count of Sedlnitzky and Maria Josepha, Countess of Haugwitz influenced his spiritual outlook early on. His brother Joseph was an Austrian civil servant.

Career

He studied philosophy and theology at the University of Wrocław but returned home to continue his studies privately in 1807 when Wrocław was affected by the Napoleonic wars. He graduated and was ordained in 1811.

In 1819 he became a canon in Wrocław and in 1830, with royal support, provost. In December 1832 he was made a vicar.

The Prussian government chose him to be bishop of Wrocław in 1835, but resigned in October 1840.[2] After abdicating he moved to Berlin where he was made a privy-councillor by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV.[3][4]

Then in 1863 he became a Protestant.

His interest in education continued as a Protestant. He founded the Paulinum, a dormitory for Protestant high school students, and in 1869 the Johanneum, a boarding school for Protestant theology students. In his will, he also gave to the Wrocław Evangelical Theological college.

Churchmanship

In his youth he was accused of membership of the Johann Michael Sailer Society, and as Prince-Bishop he was neither clear nor firm in his maintenance of the doctrines of the Church including on the question of mixed marriages. As Bishop held a toleration of non-Catholic children's education. Pope Gregory XVI, asked him to resign his see in 1840, after which he went to Berlin, where he became a Protestant in 1862.

In 1871 he died in Berlin and was buried in the Protestant cemetery in Ręków, Sobótka (Poland).

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ catholic-hierarchy.com
  2. ↑ catholic-hierarchy.org
  3. ↑ Isaac August Dorner (ed.): Autobiography of Count Leopold of Sedlnitzky Choltitz. Berlin 1872 Berlin 1872
  4. ↑ Constantin von Wurzbach : Sedlnitzky, Leopold Count in Biographical Dictionary of the Empire of Austria. Volume 33, published by LC Zamarski, Vienna, 1877, pp. 295-299.
Religious titles
Preceded by
Emanuel von Schimonsky		 Bishop of Wrocław
1836–1840 		Succeeded by
Joseph Knauer
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