BETTINGER, FRANZISKUS. - Cardinal, b. at Landstuhl (Palatinate), 17 Sept. 1850, d. 13 Apr. 1917 at Munich. Ordained priest in 1873, he devoted himself to the exercise of the pastoral ministry in various parishes of the diocese of Speyer. In 1895 he was appointed canon of Speyer and dean of the same chapter. At the Consistory of 26 June 1909 he was preconized archbishop of Munich and Freising. A distinguished organizer of ecclesiastical administration in Bavaria, Pius X created him cardinal on 25 May 1914. The granting of the purple to their metropolitan produced great rejoicing among Bavarian Catholics, since no Bavarian prelate had been granted that dignity since the death of Card. Reisach in 1869. During
the First World War Card. B. took a particular interest in religious assistance for Bavarian combatants.