Döllinger, JOHANN JOSEPH IGNAZ

Döllinger, JOHANN JOSEPH IGNAZ, one of the most scholarly and eminent of recent German Catholic theologians, was born at Bamberg on 28th February 1799. After teaching for three years in the Lyceum at Aschaffenburg, he was appointed (1826) professor of Ecclesiastical History and Law in the university of Munich, a chair which he held, with the exception of a short interval (1847-49), down to 1871, when he was elected rector of his university. He also represented the same university in the Bavarian chamber from 1845 to 1847, and onwards from 1849, and was elected by a Bavarian constituency to the Frankfort parliament of 1848-49. His life and labours may be conveniently divided into three periods. During the first of these, which extended from 1826 to 1857, he was one of the most energetic defenders of Ultramontanism in Germany, the champion of the independence of the church from the state, and an enemy of Protestantism, formidable not only on account of his energy and indefatigable zeal, but also on account of his learning, his eloquence, and his skill as a writer. The views which he held at this period of his life find expression in his public acts, especially as leader of the Ultramontane party at Frankfort, and in two works, Die Reformation, ihre innere Entwickelung und ihre Wirkungen (Ratisbon, 3 vols. 1846-48); and Luther, eine Skizze (1851). In 1857 Döllinger visited Rome, and what he saw there, together with the outbreak of the Italian war of 1859, produced a change in his opinions, which he first announced publicly in two addresses delivered at Munich in 1861, in which he propounded his belief that the temporal sovereignty of the pope was not essential to the continuance and progress of the Roman Catholic Church. The enunciation of this view brought down upon his head several fierce attacks from the writers of the Ultramontane party, to which he replied in Kirche und Kirchen, Papsttum und Kirchenstaat (1861); and this was followed, two years afterwards, by Vergangenheit und Gegenwart der katholischen Theologie (addressed to a conference of Roman Catholic divines at Munich), and by Die Papstfabeln des Mittelalters. Whilst the Vatican Council was being summoned to deliberate on the dogma of papal infallibility, Döllinger, along with his colleagues, Professors Friedrich and Huber, assailed the new doctrine in the anonymous Janus (1869; 2d ed. as Das Papstthum, 1891). In July 1870 the council proceeded to promulgate the decree of papal infallibility; and in the following March Döllinger published a letter, withholding his submission, alike as 'a Christian, a theologian, an historical student, and a citizen.' Excommunicated three weeks afterwards, he took a leading part in the summoning of the congress which met at Munich in September, and out of which arose the Old Catholics (q.v.). The year 1872 marks the beginning of the third period in the learned theologian's career. The position he now took up was indicative of a desire to bring about the union of the various Christian churches, a cause which he advocated, not only in a series of lectures (1872), but also by the active part he took in the Old Catholic conference at Bonn (1874-76). He never officiated as a priest of the new communion, though he defended its position. With Reusch he edited Cardinal Bellarmine's autobiography (1887), and a work on moral controversies in the Catholic Church since the 16th century (1888). In 1888 he published academic lectures (Eng. trans. of first series, Studies in European History, 1890), and in 1889 materials for a history of sects. Besides works already named, Döllinger wrote Hippolytus und Kallistus (1853), Heidentum und Judentum (1857), a treatise on Christianity and the Church in the earliest period (1860), and a collection of documents illustrating the history of the Council of Trent. In 1873 he was made president of the Munich Academy. In 1889 his ninetieth birthday was celebrated by the university with great éclat; and he died at Munich, 10th January 1890.