Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber


He was born in 1869 in Heidenfeld/Franken (Germany). Ordained a priest in 1892, he became bishop of Speyer in 1910 and archbishop of München/Freising in 1917. He was raised to nobility in 1913 by Ludwig III of Bayern. He was a multi-layered personality, which can be seen by the judgment passed on him by his contemporaries: For the political left he was an "anti-democrat" because he was a friend of the military, the monarchy and the national authoritative state. For the political right he was a "Judenfreund" because he spoke out against the persecution of Jews and the murder of the sick and handicapped.

He once said: "Kings of God's grace are no grace for the people, but where the people become their own king, they will sooner or later also become their own gravedigger."

Von Faulhaber was elevated to the cardinalate by Benedict XV on the 7th of March in 1921 with the title of Sant’Anastasia.

In 1951 he conferred the priestly ordination on Josef and Georg Ratzinger in the cathedral of Freising.






3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd love to know who Cardinal Faulhaber's parents were.

leo said...

Herr and Frau Faulhaber ;-)

Anonymous said...

Michael Von Faulhaber and Margareta Schmitt married in 1851