KRAUS, FRANZ-XAVER. – Priest, archaeologist, historian, man of letters, born in Trier on 18 September 1840, died at S. Remo on 12 December 1901. He is the greatest Catholic archaeologist and historian Germany had in the previous century: he is known as the German De Rossi.
Ordained a priest in 1864, the following year he obtained his doctorate at the University of Freiburg in Breisgau. He also exercised the pastoral ministry at Phalzel near Trier; then, in 1870, he moved to Rome, where he contributed greatly to the development of the German Archaeological Institute, entering into relations with the best-known scholars of historical and archaeological studies, especially G. B. De Rossi. In 1872 he became professor of Art History at the University of Strasbourg, and in 1878 at that of Freiburg in Br., where he held the chair of ecclesiastical history. K. also devoted himself to Italian literature and politics, with a tendency toward French Catholic liberalism. K.’s writings are extremely numerous and varied; his principal works include: Die christliche Kunst in ihren frühesten Anfängen, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der neusten Resultate der Katahomben (Leipzig 1872); Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte (Trier 1872–73); Roma sotterranea, Die römischen Katahomben (Freiburg 1873); Kunst und Altertum in Elsass-Lothringen (Strasbourg 1877–92); Real-Encyklopädie der christlichen Altertümer (Freiburg in Br. 1882–86); Die christlichen Inschriften der Rheinlande, I: von den Anfängen des Christentums bis zur Mitte des 8. Jahrhunderts and II: bis zur Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts (Freiburg in Br. 1892–94); he also published a study on Dante, his life and work, and one on Luca Signorelli’s illustrations for Dante’s Divina Commedia; in addition, two volumes of essays in which he also discussed F. Petrarca and A. Rosmini; his letters on ecclesiastical politics are noteworthy.