ADOLF FRITZEN. — Bishop of Strasbourg, born 10 Aug. 1838 at Cleve, died at Strasbourg 7 Sept. 1919. Ordained priest in 1862, he served from 1874 to 1887 as tutor to the children of the future King George of Saxony. In 1891 he became Bishop of Strasbourg.
In 1903 he supported the establishment of a Faculty of Theology at the local university and four years later supervised the publication of a new catechism. He revived the celebration of diocesan synods, which had not been held since 1887. After Alsace passed to France at the end of the First World War, the new civil authorities, mistakenly accusing the bishop of fostering Germanizing tendencies, placed Fr. in an untenable position by deliberately ignoring him; he escaped this situation only by resigning the see. Named titular Archbishop of Mocesso, he died shortly thereafter.
SILVIO FURLANI