LIEBERMANN, BRUNO FRANZ LEOPOLD. – Head of the theological school of Mainz, born in Molsheim (Alsace) on 12 Oct. 1759, died in Strasbourg on 11 Nov. 1844. Ordained priest in 1783, he immediately took up the office of spiritual director of the seminary and German-language preacher in the cathedral. Appointed parish priest of Ernolsheim (1783), he carried out his duties with zeal and courage during the French Revolution. Imprisoned by Napoleon on a false charge of regalist conspiracy, he was released after eight months (1805) on condition that he never reappear in Strasbourg.
Invited by his friend Giuseppe Colmar, who had become bishop of Mainz with Napoleon’s support, he accepted the direction of the seminary, which had just been reopened. Liebermann created around the young men an atmosphere of piety and faith, fostering in their souls a respect for the Pope and the bishop, the true “sentire cum Ecclesia,” in opposition to the Enlightenment tendencies prevalent in theology and to the febronian spirit then dominant. His teaching made a deep impression on the young due to the breadth of his learning (he successively taught ecclesiastical history, canon law, and dogmatic theology) and above all for the clarity and inner warmth of his exposition. He collected his lectures on dogmatic theology in the *Institutiones theologiae dogmaticae* (5 vols., Mainz 1818–27), which went through many editions, including a notable Roman edition praised by Cardinal Cappellari, who, as Gregory XVI, had it adopted at the College of Propaganda Fide, though requiring a more decisive affirmation of papal infallibility. His *Institutiones iuris canonici* remain unpublished in the major seminary of Strasbourg. His *Predigten* were printed in 3 vols. (Mainz 1851–53).
Around Liebermann there spontaneously developed what later became known as the Mainz school, which, through the journal *Der Katholik*, whose motto was “Christianus mihi nomen, catholicus cognomen,” waged—with a more popular than scholarly tone—a victorious struggle against the spirit of the age, breathing a breath of Roman faith into Germany. Liebermann’s best disciples were Raess, bishop of Strasbourg; Weis, bishop of Speyer; Cardinal Geissel, who from his see in Cologne guided the German Church; Lenning, canon of Mainz, who prepared the unification of Catholic energies in Germany; and Klee, doctor of theology, who at Bonn firmly opposed the Hermesianists. In 1823 Liebermann declined the see of Metz but accepted the office of vicar general to the bishop of Strasbourg, Monsignor Tharin. Under Monsignor Trevern he presided over the commission BAUTZEN (v.).
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