Karl Klein (11 January 1819 – 6 February 1898) was the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Bishop of Limburg The Diocese of Limburg () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Cologne, with metropolitan see being the Archdiocese of Cologne. Its territory encompasses parts of the States ...

from 1886 to 1898. He restored the church after the

Kulturkampf In the history of Germany, the ''Kulturkampf'' (Cultural Struggle) was the seven-year political conflict (1871–1878) between the Catholic Church in Germany led by Pope Pius IX and the Kingdom of Prussia led by chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Th ...

and won orders to found or reestablish monasteries in the diocese.

Life and career

Klein was born in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

on 11 January 1819. He received an extensive academic education in theology

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

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 ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He was ordained a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

on 4 November 1841. In 1843, he became secretary to Bishop , who was only ten years his senior. In 1867, Klein entered the

Prussian House of Representatives The Prussian House of Representatives () was the lower chamber of the Landtag of Prussia (), the parliament of Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the upper house, the Prussian House of Lords, House of Lords (), it formed ...

as a member of the Centre Party for the Lower Westerwald district. In 1876, Bishop Blum was no longer accepted by the Prussian government; threatened by disciplinary actions, he fled to Bohemia. Klein, then dean at the cathedral, became commissionary for his functions. Blum was pardoned and returned to Limburg in 1883. In 1886, Klein was appointed Bishop of Limburg by Pope

Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the A ...

as the successor to Christian Roos. He was consecrated on 4 November 1886 by the former Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal

Paul Melchers Paul Melchers (6 January 1813 – 14 December 1895) was a Cardinal and Archbishop of Cologne. At the height of the ''Kulturkampf'' he took refuge in the Netherlands. Life Melchers was born in Münster. He studied law at Bonn (1830–33), an ...

. Klein had been favoured by the Prussian government over a candidate with political intentions, while Klein pursued no politics among the clergy, and was in this respect isolated among German bishops at the time. Together with Bishop Georg von Kopp of Fulda, Klein was the only German bishop who clearly spoke out in favour of the papal line and thus against the rejection of the by the Centre Party. Internally, he endeavoured above all to restore the ecclesiastical structures that had suffered under the

. During his tenure, several orders founded or reestablished monasteries in the diocese, including the

Cistercians The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

Pallottines The Pallottines, officially named the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (), abbreviated SAC, is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right for men in the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1835 by the Roman Catholic priest Saint Vincent Pa ...

and

Ursulines The Ursulines, also known as the Order of Saint Ursula (post-nominals: OSU), is an enclosed religious order of women that in 1572 branched off from the Angelines, also known as the Company of Saint Ursula. The Ursulines trace their origins to th ...

. Klein consecrated many new church buildings personally. On 8 October 1888 he dedicated the first Catholic church of

Idstein Idstein () is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt (region), Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Because of its well preserved historical Altstadt (Old Town) it is part of the ''Deutsch ...

to Mary Magdalene. He consecrated in

Bad Homburg Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (, ) is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, Germany, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg ...

, a new church in

Gothic revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

and in Frankfurt-Bornheim, both in 1895. In 1897, he consecrated St. Matthias in

Langendernbach Langendernbach is a village in the municipality Dornburg, Hesse, Dornburg, Limburg-Weilburg district, Hesse, in western Germany. Villages in Hesse {{Hesse-geo-stub ...

. Consecrating Mariä Himmelfahrt in Frankfurt-Griesheim in 1898 was one of the last functions he performed as bishop. Klein died in Limburg on 6 February 1898, at age 79.

References

Cited sources

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Karl 1819 births 1898 deaths 19th-century German Roman Catholic bishops Clergy from Frankfurt