FREY, FRANZ ANDREAS. – German canonist and theologian, b. at Bamberg on 20 July 1763, d. there on 24 July 1820. Ordained a priest on 13 March 1787 and awarded a licentiate in theology the following year, he studied law at Bamberg and Würzburg. A canon in 1791, from 1795 onward he was professor of canon law, holding various other positions of trust at the University of Bamberg and, after its suppression, at the new lyceum in the same city, where he also taught ecclesiastical history and dogmatic theology.
Initially attached to Febronian theories, he soon recovered, becoming, through his numerous writings, a formidable adversary of Josephinism and a fearless defender of freedom of faith and conscience and of the Church’s independence from the State. In a period of serious disagreements, he was in this regard a pioneering writer.
Principal works: Allgemeines Religions-Kirchen- und Kirchenstaatsrecht aus Grundbegriffen entwickelt (Bamberg 1808); Kritischer Kommentar über das Kirchenrecht, frei bearbeitet nach A. Michl's Kirchenrecht für Katholiken und Protestanten (there 1812–20). Some propositions in this work seem to reflect Febronian ideas. He also wrote: Genuina principia circa modum trattandi querelas et actiones ratione concordatorum (there 1795); Bemerkungen über J. Ph. Gregel's Schrift: Das landesherrliche Patronat, (there 1805); Abhandlung von dem Rechte der Staatsgewalt über das Kirchengut nach reinen Grundsätzen der Staatsrechts und der Staatswissenschaftslehre bearbeitet (there 1805), etc.