TRUCHSESS VON WALDBURG, OTTO. — Cardinal and bishop of Augsburg, born at the castle of Scheer near Sigmaringen on 25 February 1514, died in Rome on 2 April 1573.
After his initial studies at Tübingen, he came to Italy, where he attended the Universities of Pavia, Padua, and Bologna. He soon became a canon of Augsburg and dean of the cathedral of Trent; having gone to Rome as secret chamberlain to Paul III, he was appointed by him internuncio to the Congress of Nuremberg (1543) to announce the Council. That same year he was elected bishop of Augsburg, and thus began to devote himself entirely to reforming his diocese. In December 1544 he was created cardinal with the title of S. Balbina, which he later changed to that of S. Sabina, whose titular basilica he substantially restored. In 1562 he was made bishop of Albano, and in 1570 he successively transferred to the sees of Sabina and Palestrina. At the Council of Trent he was represented by the Jesuit Fr. Jajo, while he himself was waging war together with the Duke of Bavaria against the Protestants, from whom he took part of his diocese. At Dillingen—where in 1548 he celebrated a Synod—he founded an Academy, later transformed into a university, entrusting it to the Jesuits, of whom he was always an enthusiastic admirer, calling himself the spiritual son of s. Ignatius. His attempt to found a college for them in Augsburg failed. In 1558 Ferdinand I proclaimed him protector of the Empire at the Holy See. He attended the final phase of the Council of Trent, where he warmly advocated the establishment of seminaries.
T. was undoubtedly one of the most notable figures in the ecclesiastical world of his time, and was judged the most authoritative exponent of the policy of the Holy See in Germany. His piety, his zeal in the work of reform and for the conversion of heretics, together with his concern for the poor, earned him the affectionate esteem of his contemporaries, including Cardinals Bellarmine, A. Farnese, Madruzzo, and Hosius, and of the most eminent figures of the Society of Jesus, among them s. Pietro Canisio.
GEBHARD, his nephew, archbishop of Cologne, born at Scheer on 10 November 1547, died at Strasbourg on 31 May 1601.
After an advanced education at German and foreign universities, and possessing rich benefices, he was elected archbishop of Cologne on 5 December 1577 by the party favorable to Catholic Reform (his opponents supported the candidacy of Ernesto of Bavaria, who obtained ten votes, while T. received twelve) and, confirmed in 1580 by the Holy See, he soon showed himself favorable to the Protestants. Having married Agnes of Mansfeld in 1583,
he openly attempted to secularize the Electorate of Cologne and make it his own dominion. Excommunicated and deposed by Gregory XIII on 1 April 1683, and with Ernesto of Bavaria elected archbishop in his place by the Chapter, T., aided by the Count Palatine Giovanni Casimiro and William of Orange, sought to resist, but, repeatedly defeated, had to leave Cologne and withdrew to Strasbourg in 1589.