Alois KNOPFLEER. — Ecclesiastical historian, born 29 Aug. 1847 at Schomburg (Württemberg), died 14 July 1921. Ordained priest in 1874, he became in 1881 professor of Church history and patrology at the Lyceum of Passau. He succeeded Döllinger as professor of ecclesiastical history at Munich and taught there until 1917. He founded the Seminary of Ecclesiastical History, which flourished greatly under his direction.
He edited the German edition of vol. XXIII of the Universal History of the Church by Rohrbacher and the 2nd edition of vols. V and VI of the History of the Councils by Hefele, as well as those of De exordiis et incrementis by Walahfrid Strabo in 1890 and of De institutione clericorum by Rabanus Maurus in 1900. Also important is his Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte, first published in 1895, which went through several editions and was translated into Hungarian and Spanish.