DÖLGER, FRANZ JOSEPH. — A noted historian of the first Christian centuries, b. on 18 October 1879 at Sulzbach sul Meno, d. on 17 October 1940 at Schweinfurt. After studying theology at Würzburg, he was ordained a priest on 3 August 1902 and received his doctorate in the history of dogma in 1904. 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 his observation of the monuments that bear witness to the ancient world in Rome, Sicily, and North Africa. On the basis of this research, he set out to demonstrate the parallelism and reciprocal influence between antiquity and Christianity in the first 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 Campo Santo Teutonico from 1908 to 1913. During this period he travelled in Dalmatia, North Africa, and Greece. His first publication from his Roman sojourn was the first volume of the «IXOTC» in the early Christian period, historical studies of religion and epigraphy (Rome 1909; 2nd ed., Münster 1928). He then published Sphragis, denominazione paleocristiana battesimale nella sua relazione con la cultura cristiana dell'antichità (Paderborn 1911).
In 1912 he received the chair of general history of religions and comparative religious science at Münster. In 1913 he edited the miscellany for the Constantinian centenary, Konstantin der Grosse und seine Zeit (Freiburg 1913). In 1918 he became full professor of general history of religions, ancient ecclesiastical history, and Christian archaeology, served as the principal collaborator of the Liturgiegeschichtliche Forschungen, and published in this series volume II, Die Sonne der Gerechtigkeit und der Schwarze, a study of the baptismal vow (Lit. Forsch., 2 [Münster 1918]). Two years later, Sol salatin, prayer and song in Christian antiquity, appeared in the same series (Lit. Forsch., 4–5 [Münster 1920, 2nd ed., ibid. 1925]). In 1922 there followed volume II of the «IXOTC», the sacred fish in ancient religions and in Christianity (ibid. 1922), and volume III of the «IXOTC», containing reproductions in plates of the monuments discussed in volume II (ibid. 1922). Four years later he received at Breslau the chair of ancient ecclesiastical history, Christian archaeology, and patrology, and in 1929 succeeded A. Ehrhard at Bonn in the same capacity. During this period, the plates of volume IV of the «IXOTC» were printed, covering monuments of the fish in Christian sculpture, painting, and minor arts (ibid. 1927).
To make the results of his vast studies known, in 1929 he founded the quarterly periodical Antike und Christentum, which continued to appear until 1936. In 1932 he added volume V to the «IXOTC», in five parts (Münster 1932; 1937; 1938; 1939; 1940), and in 1935, under his auspices, preparations were made for the publication of the Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum (5 fasc., Leipzig 1941–43).
On the occasion of his sixtieth birthday, the miscellany Piscitelli Fr. Jos. D. (Münster 1939) was published, in which all his works were listed. He died in the hospital at Schweinfurt and was buried in his native city.
D.’s work consists of an immense number of specialized studies, carried out with mastery and in a remarkable manner, to elucidate the relations between antiquity and Christianity.