DÖLGER, FRANZ JOSEPH. - Historian of the early Christian centuries, b. 18 Oct. 1879 at Sulzbach on the Main, d. 17 Oct. 1940 at Schweinfurt. After studies in theology at Würzburg, he was ordained a priest on 3 Aug. 1902, and took his doctorate in 1904 in the history of dogma. His dissertation Das Jahrament der Firmung historisch-dogmatisch dargestellt was awarded a prize and published in Vienna in 1906.
What most influenced the new direction of D.'s studies was the sight of the monuments, witnesses of the ancient world, in Rome, Sicily and North Africa. On the basis of these researches he set out to demonstrate the parallelism and mutual influence between antiquity and Christianity in the early centuries. The result of this spiritual change was Der Exorzismus im alten Taufritus (Würzburg 1906; Paderborn 1909).
In 1906 he was appointed lecturer in the history of dogma at the University of Würzburg. He then continued his studies in Rome as chaplain at the Camposanto Teutonico from 1908 to 1913. During this period he travelled in Dalmatia, North Africa and Greece. His first publication from his Roman stay was vol. I of the «IXOTC» in the paleochristian age, historical studies of religion and epigraphy (Rome 1909; 2nd ed., Münster 1928). He then published Sphragis, the paleochristian baptismal designation in its relation to the Christian culture of antiquity (Paderborn 1911).
In 1912 he held at Münster the chair of general history of religions and of the science of comparative religions. In 1913 he edited the miscellany for the Constantinian centenary Konstantin der Grosse und seine Zeit (Freiburg 1913). In 1918 he became full professor for the general history of religions, ancient ecclesiastical history and Christian archaeology, the first collaborator of the Liturgiegeschichtliche Forschungen, and published in this series vol. II, Die Sonne der Gerechtigkeit und der Schwarze, a study on the baptismal vow (Lit. Forsch., 2 [Münster 1918]). Two years later there appeared in the same series the Sol salutis, prayer and song in Christian antiquity (Lit. Forsch., 4-5 [Münster 1920, 2nd ed., ibid. 1925]). In 1922 there followed vol. II of the «IXOTC», the sacred fish in the ancient religions and in Christianity (ibid. 1922), and vol. III of the «IXOTC», containing the plate reproductions of the monuments of vol. II (ibid. 1922). Four years later he held at Breslau the chair for the ecclesiastical history of antiquity, Christian archaeology and patrology, and in 1929 he succeeded A. Ehrhard at Bonn in the same capacity. In this period, the plates of vol. IV of the «IXOTC» were printed, the monuments of the fish in Christian sculpture, painting and the minor arts (ibid. 1927).
To make known the results of his very extensive studies he founded in 1929 the quarterly periodical Antike und Christentum, which appeared until 1936. In 1932 he added to the «IXOTC» vol. V in 5 fascicles (Münster 1932; 1937; 1938; 1939; 1940) and in 1935 under his auspices the edition of the Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum was prepared (5 fasc., Leipzig 1941-43).
On the occasion of his 60th birthday there appeared the miscellany Pisciculi Fr. Jos. D. (Münster 1939), in which all his works were listed. He died in the hospital of Schweinfurt and was buried in his native city.
D.'s work consists of an infinity of special researches, carried out in a masterly way and in a remarkable manner to illustrate the relations between antiquity and Christianity.