Adolph II, Archbishop of Mainz

ADOLFO II, archbishop of MAGONZA. — Count of Nassau-Wiesbaden and great-nephew of his predecessor, he died on 6 September 1475 at Eltville. Appointed archbishop of Magonza by Pope Pius II on 2 August 1461, following the deposition of the excommunicated Diether of Isenburg, he obtained the archbishopric after the harsh war of 1461–63. A. devoted himself to repairing the damage caused by the war and to renewing discipline in the monasteries and among the secular clergy. He attended to the religious instruction of the people by having catechism boards placed in the churches and obliging the priests to repeat every Sunday from the pulpit the Ten Commandments of God, the principal vices, etc. He favored art and science and welcomed Giovanni Gutenberg, the inventor of the art of printing, to his court.