Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/120

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DOLLINGER


94


DOLLINGER


episcopal see suffragan of Hierapolis (Mabboug, Mem- bldj). Lequien (Or. Christ., II, 937) mentions eight Greek bishops: Archelaus, present at Nicaea in 325, and at Antioch in 341; Olympius at Sardiea in 344; Cyrion at Seleucia in 359; Maris at Constantinople in 381; Abibus, a Nestorian. in 431, deposed in 434; Athanasius, his successor; Timothy, a correspondent of Theodoret, present at .-Vntioch in 444 and at Chalce- don in 451 ; Philoxenus, a nephew of the celebrated Philoxenus of Hierapolis, deposed as a Severian in 518, reinstated in 533 (Brooks, The Sixth Book of the Select Letters of Severus, London, 1904, II, 89, 90, 345-350, 352). The see figures in the first "Notitia Episco|iatuum" ed. Parthey, about 840. At a later time Dohche took the place of Hierapolis as metrop- olis (Vailhc, in Echos d'Orient, X, 94 sqq. and 367 sqq.). For a list of fourteen Jacobite Bishops of Doliche (eighth to ninth century), see "Revue de I'Orient chretien", VI, 195. S. PETRioiis.

Dollinger, Johann Joseph Ignaz von, historian and theologian, b. at Bamberg, Bavaria, 28 February, 1799; d. at Munich, 10 January, 1890.

FAJnLY AND Education. — Dolhnger's father was a professor of medicine in the University of Bamberg, and his son was influenced, in an unusual degree, by the family traditions and his whole environment. The medical faculty of the L'niversity of Bamberg owed its foundation to his grandfather, whose son, the father of Ignaz (as Dollinger was usually called), be- came regular professor of medicine in the same uni- versity in 1794, but in 1803 was called to Wurzburg. It was only natural that amid surroundings predom- inantly academic the youthful Ignaz should acquire a strong love of books, the best of which were then written in French, which language the future histo- rian of the Church learned from his father. In the gjminasium he acquired a knowledge of Italian. A Benedictine monk taught him English privately, and he learned Spanish at the university. An or- derly acquisition of learning and the full development of all his rich gifts would have led to extraordinary achievements. He had also sufficient means to satisfy any reasonable wishes for foreign travel and the pur- cha.se of books. All these circumstances, doubtless, combined to render his mind [particularly receptive; at the same time the multitude of impressions daily made on the young student led him to outline a plan of studies by far too comprehensive.

On entering the University of Wurzburg at the age of sixteen, he took up at once history, philosophy, philology, and the natural sciences. In tliis choice there is already evident a certain mental irregularity, the more remarkable if we recall what he said, two years later, apropos of his choice of a vocation, viz., that, "no professor in the faculty of philosophy had been able to attract him to his particular science". The conversion of such men as Eekhart, Werner, Schlegel, Stolberg, and Winkelmann turned his thoughts to theology, which he took up in 1818, but without abandoning botany, mineralogy, and ento- mology, to which studies he continued for many years to devote considerable time. We quote from Fried- rich the following noteworthy utterance of Dollinger: " To most other students theology was only a means to the end. To me, on the contrary, theology, or science in general based on theology, was the entl, the choice of a vocation only the means. " During his student days he seldom attended the regular lectures on theology, but he was assiduous at the lectures in the faculty of philosophy and law; privately, however, he read many works on theology. His studies were better regulated when in 1820 he entered the ecclesiastical seminary at Baml)erg and followed the theological courses given at the lyceum. The year and a half spent in this manner made up, but not sufhciently, for the previous lack of a systematic training in theology.


He was ordained priest 22 April, 1822, spent the summer at his home, and in November, was appointed chaplain at Marktscheinfeldt in Middle Franconia. Despite the profound grasp of dogma and moral theol- ogy that his works at times exhibit, his career gives evidence enough tliat he never took the pains to round out satisfactorily the insufficiency of his early training in theology. The elder Dollinger had hoped to see his son follow an academic career and opposed his choice of the priesthood; among the reasons for his opposi- tion was the conviction, openly expressed (and then prevalent enough among the German clergy), that for physiological reasons a celibate life was impossible.

Career. — Dolhnger's father soon obtained (Novem- ber, 1823) for him a place as professor of canon law and church history in the lyceum of Aschaffenburg. It was here that in 1S26 he'published his first work, "Die Eucharistie in den drei ersten Jahrhunderten", an eloquent and solid treatise, still much appreciated. It obtained for him from the theological faculty of the Bavarian University of Landshut the title ofDoctor of Theology in absentid. In the same year he was called to Munich as professor extraordinary of canon law and church history, and in 1827 was made profes- sor in ordinary. In 1839 the king gave him a canonry in the royal chapel {Hojkollegiatsiijt) of St. Cajetan a"t Munich, and on 1 Jan., 1847, he was made mitred provost or head of that body of canons. In the same year he was dismissed from his chair, in punishment of his protest as representative of the imiversify in the Bavarian Landtag, to which he had been appointed in 1844, against the dismissal of several university pro- fessors. But in 1848 he was chosen representative to the Frankfort Parliament and remained in attendance until the middle of 1849. Then followed (24 Dec, 1849; according to some authorities 1 Jan., 1850) his reappointment as professor, which office he held until 18 April, 1871, when Archbishop von Scherr pulilicly excommunicated him. Thereupon he laid do\^n his ecclesiastical charges, recognized the binding force of liis excommunication and. though he held his profes- sorate another year, taught only a course of modern history. In 1868 King Louis II of Bavaria had ap- pointed him royal councillor, and maintained him in his office as provost of St. Cajetan, even after his ex- communication; practically, this meant only the continuance to him of the revenue of the position. Dollinger received in 1873 another evidence of the royal favour, when, on the death of the famous chemist Liebig, he was named by the king to the presi- dency of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences and general conservator of the scientific collections of the State. As early as 1837 he had been made member extraordinary of the Academy, in 1843 a regular mem- ber, and from 1860 was secretary of its historical section.

Many attempts were made, by ecclesiastics and lay- men, to induce Dollinger to return to the Church. The personal conviction of the latter may be read in his correspondence (edited by Friedrich, Munich, 1899-1901) with Archbishop Steichele and the nuncio, Monsignor Ruffo-Scilla. In 1880 and 1SS7 both of these prelates together with Bishop von Hcfelc of Rottenburg besought Dollinger to abandon his Okl- Catholic attitude and be reconciled with the Church. His response to the archliishop contained these words: "Ought I (in obedience to your suggestion) to appear before the Eternal Judge, my conscience bunlencd with a double perjury?" At the end of his letter to the nuncio he said: " I think that what I have written so far will suffice to make clear to you that with such convictions one may stand even on the tlireshold of eternity in a condition of inner peace and spiritual calm". He died aged ninety-one, still ou'sine the communion of the Church.

Life and Writings. — It was at Munich that Dol- linger I)cgan his life-work. Formally, he was pro-