FESSLER, JOSEPH. - Bishop, historian and canonist, b. at Lochau (Vorarlberg) on 2 Dec. 1813; d. at St. Pölten (near Vienna) on 25 Apr. 1872. A priest in 1837, from 1838 he taught Church history and law at the Seminary of Bressanone; then, from 1852, at the University of Vienna. Auxiliary bishop and vicar general for Vorarlberg in 1862, imperial ambassador to Rome for the Concordat (1863), bishop of St. Pölten (1864), secretary of the Vatican Council (1869-70).

His best work is: Institutiones Patrologiae (2 vols., Innsbruck 1850-51; 2nd ed. edited by B. Jungmann [2 vols., ibid. 1890-96]); other noteworthy works: Das kirchlichen Bücherverbot (Vienna 1869); Der canonische Prozess (Vienna 1860); Das letzte und nächste allgemeine Kanzel (Freiburg im Breisgau 1869); Sammlung vermischter Schriften über Kirchengeschichte und Kirchenrecht (ibid. 1860); Die wahre und falsche Unfehlbarkeit der Päpste (Vienna 1871); Das vaticanische Conzil, dessen äussere Bedeutung und innerer Verlauf (ibid. 1871).

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: A. Erdinger, Dr. J. F., Bressanone 1874; L. M. Ransauer, Dr. J. F., in Deutschlands Episcopat, IV, Würzburg 1875; E. Campana, Il Concilio Vaticano, I, Lugano-Bellinzona 1926, p. 745 ff.

Celestino Testore

@incollection{ec5_fessler_joseph, author = {Testore, Celestino}, title = {Fessler, joseph}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1211}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/fessler-joseph} }

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Fessler, Joseph

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