HERGENRÖTHER, JOSEPH. — Cardinal, theologian, and Church historian, born at Würzburg on 15 September 1824, died at the Cistercian monastery of Mehretrau (Bregenz, Austria), on 3 October 1890. Having completed his studies in his homeland and at the Collegio Germanico in Rome, he received his doctorate in theology at Munich in 1850 with the study: Die Lehre der göttlichen Dreieinigkeit nach dem hl. Gregor von Nazianz (Ratisbona 1850); the following year he obtained his habilitation there with the thesis: De catholicae Ecclesiae primordiis recentiorum protestantium systemata (ibid. 1851). From 1852 he was professor of ecclesiastical history and canon law at Würzburg. Pius IX invited him to Rome in 1867 as a consultor in the preparation of the First Vatican Council and on the Commission « de ecclesiastica disciplina ». Leo XIII, in recognition of his merits, created him a cardinal in 1879, appointing him prefect of the Pontifical Archives, which he succeeded in opening to all scholars for the greater advancement of historical studies.
His works are very numerous and the fruit of extensive research and profound reflection. His Photius, Patriarch von Konstantinopel (ibid. 1867–69), with the appendix Monumenta graeca ad Photium eiusque historiam spectantia (ibid. 1869), was received with acclaim for its profound learning and clear objectivity. Against his teacher I. Döllinger, he keenly defended the papacy and the prerogative of infallibility in Anti-Janus (Fribourg in Br. 1870), Die « Irrthümer » von mehr als vierhundert Bischöfen und ihr theologischer Censor (ibid. 1870); and Katholische Kirche und christlicher Staat (2 vols., ibid. 1872), in which he sets out, in 18 well-coordinated dissertations, the development of the papacy and its relations with the various political structures throughout the course of the centuries. H. was therefore well prepared to compose his Handbuch der allgemeinen Kirchengeschichte (2 vols., ibid. 1876–78; for the 2nd ed. [ibid. 1880], a third volume of sources and documents was added, which in the 3rd ed. entered the text as notes [ibid. 1883–86]). The work, which follows the scheme of external history, internal history, constitutions, worship, and literature, marked an important stage in ecclesiastical historiography from the outset and was highly appreciated for its extensive firsthand information, its lucid and orderly exposition, and its accurate judgments in theological controversies; it is still used today in the new edition revised by J. P. Kirsch (3 vols., ibid. 1902–1909), and in the Italian version by Fr. E. Rosa [7 vols., Florence 1904–11], who later added a supplement and an index, carrying the narrative down to the election of Pius XI [ibid. 1923]; 5th ed., 4 vols., ibid. 1911–17). In addition to many other articles and studies scattered through various journals, the following should be recalled: Über Marienverehrung in den ersten zehn Jahrhunderten (Münster 1870); Athanasius der Grosse (Cologne 1877), Piemonts Unterhandlungen mit dem Hl. Stuhl im 18. Jahrhundert (Würzburg 1877); Card. Maury, ein Lebensbild (ibid. 1878).
In 1877 H. was entrusted with the direction and editing of the 2nd ed. of the Wetzer und Weltle Kirchenlexikon, which he carried through vol. VI (Fribourg in Br. 1882–89); it was continued from vols. VII to XII by F. Kaulen. The following remained incomplete: the edition of the Regesten Laos X. (8 fascicles, Fribourg in Br. 1884–91) and the continuation of K. J. Hefele’s Conciliengeschichte, of which he published only vols. VIII and IX (from the Council of Basel to 1536, ibid. 1887–89).