ZIRKEL, GREGOR. - Bishop, b. at Sylbach (Franconia) on 28 Sept. (or 2 Oct.) 1762, d. at Würzburg on 18 Dec. 1817.
Ordained a priest at Würzburg in 1786, he spent his entire life in that city, first as professor of Oriental languages and of theology, then as rector of its Seminary and finally as auxiliary bishop with the title of Hippos in partibus infidelium. Elected bishop of Speyer, he died before taking possession of his cathedral.
If in his youth he had inclined toward rationalism, later he corrected his own errors and took his place among the most resolute apologists of the Church and of its rights, both in the theological and philosophical field and in the political one as well. Z. indeed lived in the turbulent age of the French Revolution and of the Napoleonic conquests and carried out tireless work in defense of Catholicism. A trusted counselor of Crown Prince Louis and of Queen Charlotte, he contributed to the fall of the minister Count Maximilian von Montgelas, who had reformed Bavarian legislation along liberal lines and proclaimed the equality of all religions before the State. A promoter of a Catholic league, a most eloquent orator and a forceful writer, he had a large part in the drawing up of the Concordat of 1817 between Bavaria and the Apostolic See. He wrote a Geschichte des Patronatsrechtes (1806) and a volume on Die deutsche katholische Kirche (1817). There also remain by him exegetical works and printed sermons, besides numerous articles.