MELCHERS, PAULUS. — Cardinal, born on 6 January 1813 at Münster, died on 14 December 1895 in Rome. He had Döllinger as his teacher of theology. Ordained a priest in 1841, he remained for several years in Münster, serving as vice-rector (1851) and then (1852) rector of the Seminary, and as vicar general in 1852. In 1848 he was also a member of the Frankfurt Parliament. After the Holy See reached an agreement in 1857 with the Kingdom of Hanover for the reconstitution of the dioceses of Hildesheim and Osnabrück, Pius IX appointed him to the latter see and as apostolic pro-vicar of the north.
Upon Geissel’s death, he transferred in 1866 to the archbishopric of Cologne. At the First Vatican Council he was among those who considered the definition of papal infallibility inopportune; but on returning to his homeland he hastened to adhere publicly to the council’s decisions. Several professors of theology at the University of Bonn who refused to submit to the Council’s decrees were subsequently excommunicated by M. In October 1870, in a pastoral letter, he expressed confidence in a Prussian diplomatic intervention in favor of the Papal States, occupied by royal troops. During the Kulturkampf he was imprisoned by the tribunal for ecclesiastical affairs and declared deposed from the archiepiscopal dignity. Before the trial had even begun, however, the archbishop went into voluntary exile in Holland. Under the pontificate of Leo XIII, M. relinquished the administration of the diocese of Cologne. Created a cardinal in the Consistory of 27 July 1885, he settled in Rome, at the German-Hungarian College.