LEONROD, FRANZ LEOPOLD von. - Bishop of Eichstätt, b. at Ansbach on 26 Aug. 1827, d. at Eichstätt on 5 Sept. 1905. He was a staunch defender of the rights of the Church during the struggle of the Kulturkampf. His curriculum vitae is as follows: ordained priest in 1850, in 1854 vicarial cooperator in the city of Reichenhall, in 1856 preacher in the cathedral of Eichstätt, in 1859 parish priest at St. Zeno near Reichenhall, on 13 Nov. 1866 Bishop of Eichstätt (consecrated on 19 March 1867).
A firm supporter of papal infallibility, he energetically opposed the ministry of Lutz and aided the Prussian bishops struck by the Kulturkampf. In his diocese, LEONROD promoted the restoration of the cathedral of Eichstätt, the revision of the Iustitia pastoralis Eystettensis (1902), and the founding of a diocesan museum. He drew up the well-known Memorandum of the Bavarian bishops (1888) and anonymously wrote in 1873 Gespräche über den Syllabus and in 1905 Verhandlungen des bayer. Episkopats mit der Staatsregierung 1850-59 über den Vollzug des Konkordats. His writings were collected in 1892 by L. Morgott and published with a biography.
FRANCESCO ERCOLANI