Thun-Hohenstein, Leo, Count of

THUN-HOHENSTEIN, Leo, Count of. - Politician, b. at Tetschen on 7 April 1811, d. at Vienna on 17 December 1888.

He studied law at Prague and entered the magistracy and then the administrative career. In 1847 he served in Galicia under Count Rudolf Stadion; a member of the Bohemian Diet, he intervened with writings in favor of the Czech national movement; in 1848 for a few months he was president of the government in Bohemia; from 28 July 1849, minister of worship and education in the Schwarzenberg cabinet, he showed himself an opponent of Josephinism and a supporter of harmonious collaboration between the State and the Church. After negotiations and talks with the bishops, held in common accord with the Emperor and with the ministry, the imperial patents of 18 and 23 April 1850 were in fact issued, which abolished the placet regium for communications of the episcopate with the Holy See and assured the bishops the right to pronounce on the candidates designated by the government for chairs of theology in the universities or for imparting religious instruction in the schools. Validly assisted by F. Exner and by H. Bonitz, he worked to reorganize the secondary school in Austria. He also strove for the beginning of negotiations with the Holy See, for the Concordat concluded in 1855. Having left the ministry in October 1860, the following year he became a member of the House of Lords, where he was one of the most listened-to and active members of the conservative wing. In 1868 he took the floor during the discussion on the marriage bill, affirming, on 21 March 1868, that such a law was contrary to the Concordat and that, consequently, the government proposal, dictated by a liberal and anticlerical spirit, tended toward a unilateral revocation of the Concordat itself. He proposed, therefore, that the debate on the bill and on that of education be adjourned pending provision, in common accord with the Holy See, for modifications of the concordatory text. Despite T.'s pleadings, the government, having obtained the approval of Parliament, made the two laws effective. After having supported in 1871 in the Bohemian Diet the federalism of the Hohenwart ministry, T. withdrew from public activity following the victory of the liberals. He nevertheless returned to political life in 1883.

Silvio Furlani