REINKENS, JOSEF HUBERT. — Bishop of the Old Catholics, b. March 1, 1821 at Burtscheid near Aix-la-Chapelle, d. Jan. 4, 1896 at Bonn. Ordained priest in 1848 and awarded a doctorate in theology in 1849 at Munich, he was appointed in 1853 professor of Church history at the Faculty of Theology in Breslau.
He began his scholarly career brilliantly in 1851 with a study on Clement of Alexandria, but for a decade thereafter he had to attend to many other pedagogical and ecclesiastical duties. From 1861 to 1866 he published monographs on the University of Breslau, on Hilary of Poitiers, on St. Jerome, on St. Martin of Tours, and on the philosophy of history in St. Augustine. Opposed to the definition of papal infallibility, he launched an insistent campaign of publications against the constitution of July 16, 1870. Suspended from teaching theology in October 1870, he took part in the Old Catholics’ congress at Munich in September 1871 and was elected their bishop at Cologne on June 4, 1873. Consecrated by the Jansenist bishop Heykamp of Deventer, R. in the same year received recognition from Prussia, Baden, and Hesse. On December 14, 1873 he was excommunicated by Pius IX. Yet R. did not submit and worked persistently, though with very limited results, to spread the movement he led, presiding over fourteen synods until 1895. In 1877 his writings on Church unity (Über die Einheit der katholischen Kirche) and a speech delivered at Würzburg against the Pope (Ist an die Stelle Christi für uns der Papst getreten) were placed on the Index.