SENESTREY, IGNAZ von. – Bishop, born on 13 July 1818 at Bärnau, in the Upper Palatinate, died on 16 August 1906 at Regensburg.
He studied at the Collegium Germanicum and remained in Rome from 1836 to 1842, when he was ordained a priest. He taught at Eichstätt, then served as curate in Munich, parish priest at Kühbach, and canon of the cathedral of Eichstätt in 1853. At the recommendation of King Maximilian II of Bavaria, he was appointed Bishop of Regensburg in 1858. He built the new ecclesiastical seminary, founded minor seminaries at Metten, Straubing, and Regensburg, promoted the adoption of the Roman rite, and saw to the completion of the construction of the Cathedral. He also took the initiative in organizing regular meetings of the bishops of Bavaria and of all Germany. The Fulda Conference, which first met in 1867, was the result of this initiative. At the First Vatican Council he was a vigorous advocate of papal infallibility. He defended the interests of the Church and of Catholics against Bavarian liberal policy. His protest against the accusation that he had violated the Constitution and the Concordat by inviting several Jesuits into his diocese in 1866 attracted particular attention.
BLIB.: H. Brück, Gesch. der kath. Kirche in Deutschland im 19. Jahrh., III, Mainz 1896, pp. 496–98; A. Steinhuber,
Gesch. des Kollegium Germanikum Hungarikum in Rom, 2nd ed., II, Freiburg im Br. 1906, p. 499. Silvio Furlani