TRAUTMANSDORF-WEINSBERG, THADDAEUS, Count of. – Cardinal, b. 28 May 1761 at Graz (Styria, diocese of Seckau), d. at Vienna 10 Jan. 1819.
Descended from an ancient family long attached to the Habsburgs since the 13th century and ennobled with the title of Imperial Counts in 1623 and of Hungarian magnates in the early 18th century, the young Taddeus was admitted in 1780 to the German College in Rome through the presentation of Cardinal Herzan, whence in 1782 he passed to the General Seminary of Pavia, established by Joseph II. Of restless spirit and close to Tamburini, he became an advocate of Josephinism. In 1783 there appeared under his name at Pavia a work by Tamburini, *De tolerantia ecclesiastica et civili*, which is a eulogy of the Emperor’s religious policy. Moreover, in the dedication to Joseph II, T. boasts, as a pupil, of the teaching of the Jansenists Zola and Tamburini. The work caused a great stir, was attacked by Cuccagni in two writings, and a few months before the Emperor’s death (18 Sept. 1789) was placed on the Index. Having left Pavia, T. was ordained priest in 1784 at Graz. He then exercised his ministry at Holleschau in Moravia. In 1794 Francis II named him Bishop of Königgrätz, but the Holy See refused confirmation on account of the anti-Catholic doctrines propounded in the above-mentioned volume. T. justified himself by claiming that he had merely defrayed the printing costs and allowed his name to be used, and after forwarding a written retraction to Rome he was preconized bishop in 1795 and in his government displayed such zeal that in 1811, after the resignation of Archduke Rainer, he was promoted coadjutor with right of succession to the Archbishop of Olomouc. On the Emperor’s proposal he was created cardinal by Pius VII in the Consistory of 23 Sept. 1816, but he neither received a titular church nor the red hat because he never went to Rome.