KLESL, MELCHIOR. - Cardinal, b. 19 Feb. 1552 in Vienna, d. 18 Sept. 1630 at Wiener-Neustadt. The son of a Protestant baker, he embraced the Catholic faith while still a student. Provost of the Chapter at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna in 1579 and chancellor of the University, vicar of the bishop of Passau in the part of the diocese situated in Lower Austria in 1581, bishop of Wiener-Neustadt in 1588, head of the Religious Commission for Lower Austria in 1590, bishop of Vienna in 1598 and cardinal in 1616.

K. was the foremost champion of the Catholic restoration in Lower Austria. A counselor of Emperor Matthias, he subsequently relaxed somewhat his intransigence toward the Protestants, concerning himself more with the internal political situation of the Austrian state. He favored a temporizing policy toward the Bohemian rebels, but this course of action was opposed by Ferdinand himself, king of Bohemia, who had him arrested and imprisoned. Freed through the intervention of Paul V and transferred to Rome, K. took possession of his diocese again in 1623.

Bibliography

BIBL.: E. Tomek, Kirchengeschichte Österreichs. II. Innsbruck-Vienna 1949, p. 483 ff., with ample bibl.

Silvio Furlani

@incollection{ec7_klesl_melchior, author = {Furlani, Silvio}, title = {Klesl, melchior}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {715--716}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/klesl-melchior} }

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Klesl, Melchior

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