Eduard Von Der Ropp
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Edward Ropp (; 1851–1939) was a Polish nobleman of
Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...
origins, Bishop of Vilnius and
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
metropolitan archbishop Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...
of Mogilev. He was born 2 December 1851 near
Līksna Līksna (, , ) is a village in Līksna Parish, Augšdaugava Municipality in the Latgale region of Latvia. It is the birthplace of Edward Ropp, a Roman Catholic bishop in Tiraspol, Vilnius and Mogilev. It was also the place Polish-Lithuanian h ...
in present-day
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
Jānis Svilāns and Alberts Budže (2008), ''Latvijas Romas Katoļu Priesteri, I'', p. 229, and died on 25 July 1939 in
Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
.


Early life

Edward Ropp was the third of four sons of Julian Emeryk Ropp, a Polish noble, descendant of the
Baltic German nobility The Baltic German nobility was a privileged social class in the territories of modern-day Estonia and Latvia. It existed continuously from the Northern Crusades and the medieval foundation of Terra Mariana. Most of the nobility consisted of Balt ...
. His father was a direct descendant of Theodoricus de Raupena, the eldest brother of
Bishop Albert A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...
who founded the city of
Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
in 1201. His mother, Izabela Józefa Plater-Zyberk, daughter of civil vicegovernor of Vilnius
Michał Plater-Zyberk Count Michał Plater-Zyberk (28 December, 1777 – 1862, ) – Polish nobleman, naturalist, civilian Vilna Governorate, vice-governor of Vilnius. Biography His parents were and Izabela Borch, daughter of , Great Crown Chancellor. In 1803, he ma ...
, was from a family which owned estates at both Lixna (Līksna) in
Latgale Latgale (; ; ; ; ; ; Belarusian Latin alphabet, Belarusian Latin: ''Łathalija''; ), also known as Latgalia or Latgallia, is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region of the country and lies north of the Daugava River. Wh ...
(then
Vitebsk Governorate Vitebsk Governorate (, ) was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with the seat of governorship in Vitebsk. It was established in 1802 by splitting Belarusian Governorate and existed until 1924. Today most ...
) and Bewern (Bebrene) in
Sēlija Selonia (; ), also known as Augšzeme (the "Highland"), is one of the Historical Latvian Lands encompassing the eastern part of the historical region of Semigallia () as well as a portion of northeastern Lithuania. Its main city and cultural cen ...
(then
Courland Governorate Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland or Governorate of Kurland, and known from 1795 to 1796 as the Viceroyalty of Courland, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the ...
). Edward Ropp was born in
Līksna Līksna (, , ) is a village in Līksna Parish, Augšdaugava Municipality in the Latgale region of Latvia. It is the birthplace of Edward Ropp, a Roman Catholic bishop in Tiraspol, Vilnius and Mogilev. It was also the place Polish-Lithuanian h ...
on December 2, 1851. He received his university education in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
and graduated in 1875. After graduation he remained in Saint Petersburg working for the Russian government. In 1879, he decided to enter the Roman Catholic seminary in Kaunas.Jānis Broks (2002), ''Katolicisms Latvijā 800 Gados: 1186-1986, Vēsturisks Atskats'', p. 250, He then went on to study theology in
Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...
, Austria, and
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, Switzerland. Upon his return in 1886, he was ordained a priest in
Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...
. After ordination, Fr. Ropp was sent to
Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...
in
Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. Courland's largest city is Liepāja, which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were ...
where he worked as a parish priest in years 1889-1902. There he began enlargement of a small church building into what is now the Cathedral of St. Joseph. In 1893 he was given additional responsibility as the vicar of all parishes in Courland.


Episcopal ministry

Ropp was appointed bishop of Tiraspol, with the see in
Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...
, on 9 June 1902 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 Ap ...
. It was a huge diocese encompassing all of Southern Russia and Caucasus. Only a year later on 9 November 1903 he was appointed
bishop of Vilnius Bishops of Vilnius diocese from 1388 and archdiocese (archdiocese of Vilnius) from 1925:" ...
by
Pope Pius X Pope Pius X (; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing Modernism in the Catholic Church, modern ...
. On 2 December 1903, Ropp was installed in
Vilnius Cathedral The Cathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Ladislaus of Vilnius, also known as Vilnius Cathedral is the main Catholic cathedral in Lithuania. It is situated in Vilnius Old Town, just off Cathedral Square. Dedicated to the Christian saints ...
. He traveled back to Saratov in 1904 to co-consecrate his successor as bishop of Tiraspol
Josef Alois Kessler Joseph Aloysius Kessler (, ; August 12, 1862 – December 10, 1933) was the last bishop of the Diocese of Tiraspol in Russia and the last Volga German bishop until Bishop Joseph Werth, SJ. Biography Joseph Kessler was born 12 August 1862 in ...
on 10 November. The Diocese of Vilnius was the largest Catholic diocese in the Russian Empire in terms of the number of believers and parishes. It was also subject to the greatest repression because of this. Bishops were usually subject to exile, and the diocese was ruled by administrators. In early 1902, Bishop
Stefan Aleksander Zwierowicz Stefan Aleksander Zwierowicz (26 December 1842 – 3 January 1908) was a Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Sandomierz and of the Diocese of Vilnius. Biography Zwierowicz was born in Wyrozęby. He attended high school in Białystok, fr ...
was exiled to Tver for issuing a ban on Catholics sending their children to Orthodox schools. In 1903, he agreed to take over the Sandomierz diocese, and in his place Edward Ropp was appointed Bishop of Vilnius. On April 17, 1905, Tsar
Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...
issued a tolerance decree allowing members of the dissolved
Uniate Church The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of ...
to return from Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism. Bishop Ropp issued directives facilitating conversion, including conducting religious instruction in the language of the faithful. By the end of 1908, according to official Russian data, 30,318 people in the Vilnius diocese had converted. In January 1906, the bishop founded the daily newspaper . However, he soon purchased ''Kurier Litewski'' from Feliks Zawadzki, merged the editorial staff of his newspaper into it, and continued publishing under that title. Additionally, the Catholic weekly ''Przyjaciel'' began to appear in Vilnius. The press activities aimed to promote the program of the Constitutional Catholic Party of Lithuania and Belarus, founded by the bishop, which sought to fight for the social and religious rights of Catholics of all nationalities and to prevent ethnic conflicts among them. The party's program included
land reform Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...
, the fight for workers' rights, the right to strike, freedom of speech and religion, and judicial independence. The progressive nature of the program led to the party's closure after just eight months, on October 6, 1906. The bishop carried out active pastoral work, visiting parishes with the charismatic Fr. Jan Kurczewski, consecrating churches, and delivering sermons in both Polish and Lithuanian. His goal was to ease Polish-Lithuanian tensions related to the struggle over the auxiliary language of worship in mixed parishes. His activities faced hostility from Russian authorities, who had been planning to remove him from Vilnius since 1906. These plans were temporarily halted by his election to the State Duma. However, on October 7, 1907, he was sentenced to exile from the diocese. The official reasons cited were his political activities, disregard for Russification policies, and "narrowly nationalistic efforts aimed at Polonizing Lithuanians and Belarusians." Unofficially, his exile was also intended to prevent a pogrom against Jews in Vilnius, which had been organized by the
Okhrana The Department for the Protection of Public Safety and Order (), usually called the Guard Department () and commonly abbreviated in modern English sources as the Okhrana ( rus , Охрана, p=ɐˈxranə, a=Ru-охрана.ogg, t= The Guard) w ...
. The bishop was banned from entering the diocese and from communicating with the faithful and clergy. Initially, he went to St. Petersburg, where he spent several weeks at St. Catherine’s Church. He then moved to his brother’s estate in Niszcza, in the
Vitebsk Governorate Vitebsk Governorate (, ) was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with the seat of governorship in Vitebsk. It was established in 1802 by splitting Belarusian Governorate and existed until 1924. Today most ...
. In 1908, Fr. Kazimierz Michalkiewicz was appointed as the administrator of the diocese. On 25 July 1917, he was appointed metropolitan archbishop of Mohilev by
Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (; ; born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, ; 21 November 1854 – 22 January 1922) was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His pontificate was largely overshadowed by World War I a ...
. He returned to Saint Petersburg to take up this post, and, following the
February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...
, Archbishop Ropp, decreed that all his priests would take a role in organizing a
Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...
to participate in the planned
Russian Constituent Assembly The All Russian Constituent Assembly () was a constituent assembly convened in Russia after the February Revolution of 1917. It met for 13 hours, from 4 p.m. to 5 a.m., , whereupon it was dissolved by the Bolshevik-led All-Russian Central Ex ...
in order to defend the rights of the
Catholic Church in Russia The Catholic Church in Russia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. According to the 2016 Annuario Pontificio, there are approximately 773,000 Catholics in Russia, which is 0.5% of the t ...
. In this, the Archbishop was sharply opposed by both
Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...
Jan Cieplak Jan Cieplak (17 August 1857 – 17 February 1926) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest and archbishop. Early life Jan Cieplak was born in Dąbrowa Górnicza, Congress Poland, in 1857 to an impoverished family of the Polish nobility. He attended th ...
and Monsignor
Konstanty Budkiewicz Konstantin Budkevich, also known as ''Konstanty Romuald Budkiewicz''; June 19, 1867, – March 31, 1923) was a Catholic priest executed by the OGPU for organizing nonviolent resistance against the first Soviet anti-religious campaign. His ...
, who both opposed any politicization of the Catholic religion. After the
October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
, Archbishop Ropp came into conflict with the new
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. In 1919, he was arrested during the
Red Terror The Red Terror () was a campaign of political repression and Mass killing, executions in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia which was carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police ...
by the
CHEKA The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...
and received a
death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
for
anti-Soviet agitation Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (ASA) () was a criminal offence in the Soviet Union. Initially, the term was interchangeably used with counter-revolutionary agitation. The latter term was in use immediately after the October Revolution of 1917 ...
,Svilāns and Budže (2008), p. 230 but was instead deported to the
Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...
in 1920 on the intercession of the
Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
.
Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...
appointed him an
assistant at the Pontifical Throne The Bishops-Assistant at the Pontifical Throne were ecclesiastical titles in the Catholic Church. It designated prelates belonging to the Papal Chapel, who stood near the throne of the Pope at solemn functions. They ranked immediately below the ...
on 28 May 1927. Unable to return to Russia, he lived in Poland until his death in 1939. He settled in Warsaw at 24 Piękna Street, where he organized the Secretariat of the Archdiocese of Mogilev and an ecclesiastical court. In 1922, he founded the Missionary Society, and in 1924, the Missionary Institute in
Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...
, both aimed at training missionaries for work in the East. He traveled to Latvia in 1924 to attend the ingress of Archbishop
Antonijs Springovičs Antonijs Springovičs (1 November 1876 – 1 October 1958) was a Latvian Roman Catholic prelate who became the first Archbishop of Riga in 1923. Early years Springovičs was born on 31 October 1876 in Rēzekne. In 1897, he joined the seminary i ...
at the Cathedral of St. James in Riga on 4 May and to co-consecrate the new
auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...
of Riga
Jāzeps Rancāns Jāzeps is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the given name Joseph. People bearing the name include: *Jāzeps Grosvalds (1891–1920), Latvian painter *Jāzeps Pīgoznis (1934–2014), Latvian painter *Jāzeps Vītols (1863–19 ...
the same day.Broks (2002), p. 310 He spent the last months of his life with his nephew, Stefan Ropp, the director of the Poznań Trade Fair. He passed away in Poznań on July 25, 1939, and buried in the Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, Poznań. On March 21, 1983, his coffin was transferred to the Pro-Cathedral in Białystok, which at the time served as the seat of the apostolic administration for the Polish part of the Archdiocese of Vilnius.


References


Bibliography

*
"Ropp"
''Neue Deutsche Biographie'', Duncker & Humblot GmbH, Berlin (2005), vol. 22, pp. 33–35, *

''Neue Deutsche Biographie'', Duncker & Humblot GmbH, Berlin (2005), vol. 22, pp. 49–50, *


External links

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Emmerich Julius Baron von der Ropp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ropp, Eduard von der 1851 births 1939 deaths People from Augšdaugava Municipality People from Dvinsky Uyezd People of Baltic German descent German barons Polish barons Latvian Roman Catholic bishops Bishops of Vilnius Members of the 1st State Duma of the Russian Empire Roman Catholic bishops in the Soviet Union 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Lithuania 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Russian Empire Anti-communists from the Russian Empire Roman Catholic activists Russian people of Baltic German descent Polish Christian democrats Latvian Christian democrats