KLESL, MELCHIOR. - Cardinal, b. 19 Feb. 1552 in Vienna, d. 18 Sept. 1630 in Wiener-Neustadt. The son of a Protestant baker, he embraced the Catholic faith while still a student. Provost of the Chapter in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna in 1579 and chancellor of the University, vicar of the bishop of Passavia 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 advocate of the Catholic restoration in Lower Austria. Councillor to Emperor Mattia, he later somewhat relaxed his intransigence toward the Protestants, being more concerned with the internal political situation of the Austrian state. He favoured a policy of delay toward the
Bohemian rebels, but this course was opposed by Ferdinando himself, king of Bohemia, who had him arrested and imprisoned. Freed through the intervention of Paolo V and transferred to Rome, K. resumed possession of his diocese in 1623.