WICK, JOSEPH LORENZ. - Priest, born at Mellenthin (East Prussia) on 27 Aug. 1820, died at Breslavia on 9 Feb. 1903.
Ordained priest in 1845, he first devoted himself to teaching theology at the University of Breslavia, then assumed, for twenty years (1852–72), the duties of parish priest in the same city. Appointed canon of that Cathedral, W. became the soul of the Silesian Catholic movement, vigorously fighting the battles of the Church against the error of the Old Catholics and against Bismarckian persecutions. An indefatigable apologist, an orator of exceptional vigour, and a most acute polemicist in the press, he promoted deservedly famous associations, such as the Kath. Zentralverein, the Piousverein, and many others, open to the most diverse classes and circles. He founded and directed with the utmost firmness the Breslauer Hausblätter (1863), one of the most militant Catholic periodicals in the age of the Kulturkampf, and had the satisfaction of seeing Rome triumph over the dechristianizing work of the Prussian Chancellor. He left a most vivid account of his struggles and successes in the autobiographical volume Aus meinem Leben (Breslavia 1895), valuable for the study of nineteenth-century German Catholicism.