EHRLE, FRANZ. — Cardinal, distinguished medievalist, Prefect of the Vatican Library. Born at Isny (Württemberg) on 17 October 1845; died in Rome on 31 March 1934. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1861, studied in Germany and England (1873–77), where he was ordained priest and then served in Liverpool.
In 1878 he joined the editorial staff of Stimmen aus Maria Laach (later Stimmen der Zeit) and moved to Belgium, beginning his literary career. He planned to write a history of scholasticism, a project realized only through numerous notable contributions. During the decade 1880–90 he worked intensively in Rome and other cultural centers both in Italy and abroad. Together with Denifle he published the Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters (7 vols., Berlin-Freiburg in Br. 1885–1900, the last three volumes almost exclusively by E. himself), a true mine of medieval erudition. In 1890, after publishing the first volume of his History of the Papal Library, he entered the Council of the Vatican Library, of which he later became Prefect (1895–1914). In this role he displayed his talent as an organizer and far-sighted innovator. He was responsible for the complete reorganization, modernization, and enrichment of the Vatican Library, which became a center of attraction for scholars from all over the world. He himself partly described his work and experience in Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, 33 (1916), pp. 197–227; see also ibid., 8 (1891), pp. 504–105; Die Überführung der gedruckten Bücher der Vaticana aus dem Appartamento Borgia in die neue Leoninische Bibliothek und ihre Neuordnung, 13 (1896), pp. 173–73 (Eng. trans. in Rivista delle biblioteche e degli archivi, 9 [1898], pp. 5–11, 19–25; 16 [1899], pp. 533–38; 26 [1909], pp. 245–63). Among his initiatives were the printed catalogues of the manuscripts of the Vatican Library, the great photographic editions reproducing the most notable codices of the library itself, from the Vatican Virgil to the Greek Bible of the 4th century; from the Greek Ptolemy of the Urbinate collection to the Book of Joshua, from Cicero’s De Re Publica to the institute for the restoration of manuscripts. In 1914 he was succeeded by A. Ratti, whom he had proposed for the Vatican Library as early as 1911. When Ratti ascended the Chair of St Peter as Pius XI in 1922, he created E. a cardinal of S. Cesareo and in 1929 appointed him Librarian and Archivist of the Holy Roman Church. On the occasion of E.’s eightieth birthday, the Vatican Library, with the collaboration of 82 scholars from around the world, published the Missale Fuldense E., in 5 vols. plus an Album with biographical notes and a list of his works. Pius XI presented it to him in a solemn assembly on 24 November 1924. E. was honorary doctor of the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Münster in Westphalia, Munich, Cologne, Tübingen, and Louvain, as well as a member of many academies.
He remained extraordinarily active and productive into old age; all his works are valuable both for their content and for the methodical weighing of judgments. Among his principal works are: Bibliotheca theologica et philosophiae scholasticae selecta, in collaboration with others (Paris 1885–94, 5 vols.); Historia Bibliothecae Romanorum Pontificum tum Bonifatianae tum Avenionensis (Rome 1890); Gli affreschi del Pinturicchio nell’appartamento Borgia nel Palazzo Apostolico Vaticano, in collaboration with E. Stevenson (ibid. 1887); I più antichi statuti della Facoltà teologica di Bologna (ibid. 1932). He also drafted the “Forma di regolamento per la custodia e l’uso degli archivi e delle biblioteche ecclesiastiche,” sent by the Secretariat of State to the bishops of Italy on 30 September 1902 (Rome 1902). For many years he was a contributor to Stimmen der Zeit; noteworthy among his articles on the Roman Question are: Benedikt XV. und die Lösung der römischen Frage, 9 (1916), pp. 505–35; Die römische Frage, 9 (1916), pp. 79–94; Weitere Erörterungen zur römischen Frage, ibid., pp. 481–94. Especially valuable is his contribution to the topography of the Vatican area. An early topographical study is Ricerche su alcune antiche chiese del Borgo di S. Pietro, in Atti della Pont. accad. rom. di archeologia (2nd ser., 10 [1910], pp. 1–43); later followed by L’oratorio di S. Pietro sul sito della antica Scuola dei Franchi, in Oratorio di S. Pietro (Rome 1924, pp. 25–34); then Dalle carte e dai disegni di Virgilio Spada dai codd. Vaticani latini 11257–58, in Memorie (ibid., 2 [1928], pp. 1–97).
For the history of the city of Rome and its transformations since the Renaissance he wrote the introductions to the major maps of Rome from the 16th–17th centuries reproduced under the care of the Vatican Library: Roma al tempo di Giulio III, La pianta di Roma di Leonardo Bufalini del 1557 (Rome 1911); Roma prima di Sisto V, La pianta di Roma di Piera-Lefrery del 1577 (ibid. 1908); Roma al tempo di Clemente VIII, La pianta di Roma di Antonio Tempesta del 1593 (Città del Vaticano 1932); Roma al tempo di Urbano VIII, La pianta di Roma Maggi-Mannin-Losi del 1625 (Rome 1915); Roma al tempo di Clemente X, La pianta di Roma di Giambattista Falda del 1676 (Città del Vaticano 1931); Roma al tempo di Benedetto XIV, La pianta di Roma di Giambattista Nolli del 1742 (ibid. 1932); La grande veduta Maggi Mascardi (1615) del tempo di del Palazzo Vaticano (Rome 1911).
Finally, in collaboration with H. Egger, he began the history of the Vatican Palace: Der vatikanische Palast in seiner Entwicklung bis zur Mitte des XV. Jahrhunderts, I, Città del Vaticano 1935.
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EHRLICH, JOHANN NEPOMUK. — Sculptor, born in Vienna on 21 February 1810; died in Prague on 23 October 1864. Professor of philosophy at Krems (1836), of moral theology at Graz (1850), and of moral and fundamental theology and the science of religion at Prague from 1852 onward. Of keen and penetrating intellect and wide-ranging, well-organized erudition, he applied his talents to a vigorous defense of religion, which rightly makes him one of the co-founders of fundamental theology, though he was too influenced by the Cartesian and Güntherian schools. He was awarded a gold medal by Francis Joseph and called to the Council of Public Instruction; he was also affiliated with several academies.
Among his most notable works are: Leitfaden der Metaphysik (Krems 1841); Das Christenthum und die Religionen des Morgenlandes (Vienna 1842); Lehre von der Bestimmung des Menschen als rationale Theologie (2 vols., 1842–45); Randglossen zu J. Fröbel’s System der sozialen Politik (Krems 1849); Über das christliche Prinzip der Gesellschaft (Prague 1856); Der Mensch und der Staat (ibid. 1862); Leitfaden für Vorlesungen über die allgemeine Einleitung in die theologische Wissenschaft (2 vols., ibid. 1850–1860); Apologetische Ergänzungen (2 vols., ibid. 1860–64); and above all, for order, method, and clarity: Fundamental Theologie (3 vols., ibid. 1859–62).