Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

KARL JOSEF VON HEFELE (1809-1893)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 200 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

KARL JOSEF VON See also:

HEFELE (1809-1893)  , See also:German theologian, was See also:born at Unterkochen in See also:Wurttemberg on the 15th of See also:March 1809, and was educated at See also:Tubingen, where in 1839 he became See also:professor-See also:ordinary of See also:Church See also:history and patristics in the See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:faculty of See also:theology . From 1842 to 1845 he sat in the See also:National See also:Assembly of Wurttemberg . In See also:December 1869 he was enthroned See also:bishop of See also:Rottenburg . His See also:literary activity, which had been considerable, was in ho way diminished by his See also:elevation to the episcopate . Among his numerous theological See also:works may be mentioned his well-known edition of the Apostolic Fathers, issued in 1839; his See also:Life of See also:Cardinal Ximenes, published in 1844 (Eng. trans., 186o) ; and his still more celebrated History of the See also:Councils of the Church, in seven volumes, which appeared between 1855 and 1874 (Eng. trans., 1871, 1882) . See also:Hefele's theological opinions inclined towards the more liberal school in the Roman Catholic Church, but he nevertheless received considerable signs of favour from its authorities, and was a member of the See also:commission that made preparations for the Vatican See also:Council of 187o . On the See also:eve of that council he published at See also:Naples his Causa Honorii Papae, which aimed at demonstrating the moral and See also:historical impossibility of papal See also:infallibility . About the same See also:time he brought out a See also:work in German on the same subject . He took rather a prominent See also:part in the discussions at the council, associating himself with See also:Felix See also:Dupanloup and with Georges See also:Darboy, See also:archbishop of See also:Paris, in his opposition to the See also:doctrine of Infallibility, and supporting their arguments from his vast knowledge of ecclesiastical history . In the preliminary discussions he voted against the promulgation of the See also:dogma . He was absent from the important sitting of the 18th of See also:June 187o, and did not send in his submission to the decrees until 1871, when he explained in a See also:pastoral See also:letter that the dogma " referred only to doctrine given forth ex cathedra, and therein to the See also:definitions proper only, but not to its proofs or explanations." In 1872 he took part in the See also:congress summoned by the Ultramontanes at See also:Fulda, and by his judicious use of minimizing See also:tactics he kept his See also:diocese See also:free from any participation in the Old Catholic See also:schism . The last four volumes of the second edition of his History of the Councils have been described as skilfully adapted to the new situation created by the Vatican decrees .

During the later years of his life he undertook no further literary efforts on behalf of his church, but retired into See also:

comparative privacy . He died on the 6th of June 1893 . See See also:Herzog-Hauck's Realencyklopadie, vii . 525 .

End of Article: KARL JOSEF VON HEFELE (1809-1893)
[back]
ARNOLD HERMANN LUDWIG HEEREN (1760–1842)
[next]
GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH HEGEL (1770-1831)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.