DE WAAL, ANTON JOSEPH JOHANN MARIA. — Born at Emmerich on 3 May 1836, died in Rome on 23 February 1917. Ordained a priest at Münster on 11 October 1862, he was sent to teach in the minor seminary at Gaesdonck, the Collegium Augustinianum. On 19 July 1868 he came to Rome, where he obtained a degree in theology the following year. From the Collegio S. Maria dell'Anima, where he was chaplain, the rector then called him to the Collegio Teutonico di S. Maria in Campo Santo; he became vice-rector on 23 December 1872 and rector the following year, a position he held until his death.
He began by renovating the church, the heart of the institution, in order then to renew the whole foundation; first through the reform of the statutes, which Pope Pius IX granted by brief of 21 November 1876, and then by founding, one after another, through donations and bequests, five chaplaincies, while enlarging the buildings to accommodate an ever-increasing number of residents. Even more important to him, meanwhile, was the animating spirit of the foundation. He was constantly engaged in investigating the origins and history of such Roman institutions (Das böhmische Pilgerhaus in Rom, Prague 1873; Die Nationalstiftungen des deutschen Volkes in Rom, Frankfurt 1880; Der Campo Santo der Deutschen zu Rom, Freiburg im Breisgau 1896), in following pilgrims on their journey (Die Wallfahrt zu den sieben Haupthirchen Roms, Freiburg im Breisgau 1870; Des Apostelfürsten glareiche Ruhestätte, Regensburg 1873; Die Katakomben des hl. Callistus, Salzburg 1886; Das heilige Jahr in Rom, Mainz 1900; Ein Besuch im Vatikan, Munich 1913; Die Kirche St. Johannis ante Portam Latinam in Rom, Cologne 1914), and in illustrating the history of the Roman Church in the present age (Gedenkblätter an die Jubelfeier des hl. Vaters, Münster 1869; Erinnerungen an die Romfahrt zum Bischofsbild am Pius IX., Regensburg 1877; Unseres hl. Vaters Papst
Leo XIII. Leben, Münster 1878; 25 Jahre in Rom von 1870 bis 1895, Hamm 1985; Papst Pius X. Lebensbild, Munich 1903; Vom Grab Pius X. zum Throne Benedikts XV., there 1914). He assembled a library for the young men and directed them to the libraries of Rome, especially the Vatican Library, and to those archives which had become accessible on 20 June 1879; he drew attention to the monuments and also wrote about the famous sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (Rome 1900). He established a small museum and, in order to gather the fruits of all these efforts, founded the periodical Röm. Quartalschrift in 1887 and, later, together with A. Baumstark, Oriens Christianus, and undertook excavations at his own expense. In 1892 he obtained permission to explore at S. Sebastiano the so-called Platonia, where he had the good fortune to discover in 1893 the inscription in honour of a. Quirinus (La Platonia ossia il sepolcro della via Appia, Rome 1892; Die Apostelfrucht ad Catacumbas an der via Appia, Freiburg 1894). Then, again at his own expense, in 1915 he succeeded in obtaining from the Commission of Sacred Archaeology, of which he had become a member, authorization to extend the investigations beneath the church (Gli scavi sul pavimento della basilica di S. Sebastiano sulla via Appia, in Röm. Quartalschr., 29 [1915]), rejoicing that the chaplain of his Campo Santo, p. Styger, and O. Fasiolo had succeeded in discovering the famous Memoria Apostolorum. As a guide for pilgrims, he wrote the Rompilger (1st ed., Freiburg im Breisgau 1888, 12th ed., there 1925) and Roma sacra (Munich 1905). With Christian charity he assisted all who came from beyond the Alps. He gathered artists together, concerned himself with the Geselleneverein, founded the Leseverein in 1870 to promote culture, provided young women with a home in the Marienheim (1887), aided poor women through the Liebfrauenverein (1874), was a member of the conferences of S. Vincenzo, participated in the establishment of the hospital of the Sisters of the Holy Cross (1877), and, on his priestly jubilee (1912), thought of the elderly and the disabled, assigning all the gifts he received to the construction of the St. Antoniusheim. For his organizations he wrote various dramas, while his numerous tales, such as Valeria (Regensburg 1885) and the well-known Katakombenbilder (1891), were intended for a wider public. He was always devoted to the care of souls and promoted with great zeal the veneration of the martyrs; for this purpose he offered his house as the seat of the Cultores del Collegium cultorum martyrum, which he presided over for many years. His devotion to the Holy See took on a heroic aspect when, on the night of 13 July 1881, he accompanied the body of Pius IX to S. Lorenzo with his chaplains, leading the procession. Simple and sincere, severe yet full of self-denial and disinterestedness, rich in intellect and great of heart, he enjoyed much esteem, won the friendship of eminent figures, and earned the devoted affection of his students. Proof of this is provided, among other things, by the two volumes dedicated to him for his priestly jubilee (Röm. Quartalschrift, Supplementheft, 19 and 20), the honours bestowed upon him by emperors and princes, and his appointment as domestic prelate (1875) and apostolic protonotary (1900). The Collegio Teutonico del Campo Santo, which jealously guards his tomb, will remain his monument.