Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/373

 OSNABRUCK

341

OSNABRUCK

for a visit to his cathedral on his festival and a convo- cation held in S. Paul's in 1481 fixed 4 Dec. as the day to commemorate him.

Ada SS., Jan.. I; Rock, Church of Out Fathers (London, 1853); Jones, Rtgister of St. Osmund (Rolls Series, 1883 and 1884), with long and good introductions to each vol.; Sarum Cliarters and Documents (Rolls Series, London, 1891); Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Series), 9.'i, 183-4, 424-429; Idem, Gesta Regum: BuTl^ER, Lives, s. v. (London, 1833); Eadmer, Hist. Novorum, I and II, in P. L., CLIX; Ceillier, Auteurs sacres, a. v. (Paris, 1863). For the saint's canonization see Wilkins, Concilia (Lon- don, 1737), I, 501; III, 432, 613; Bekynton, Correspondence, I, 117 (Rolls Series).

S. Anselm Barker.

Osnabriick, Dioce.se of (OsNABRtinENsis), di- rectly subject to the Holy See, comprises, in the Prussian Province of Hanover, the civil districts of Osnabriick and Aurich (excepting Wilhelnishaven) and that part of Hanover situated on the west of the We.ser. In 1910 it numbered 12 deaneries, 108 pari.shes, 1.53 pastoral stations, 271 secular and 12 regular jiriosts, 204,.500 Catholics. As Apostolic ad- ministnifor, the bishop is Vicar Apostolic of the Nortliom Missions of Germany and Prefect-.'^postolic of Schlcswig-Holstein (see Germany, Vicari.\te Apostolic of Northern). According to the Bull "Impensa Romanorum" (26 March, 1824), he is elected by the chapter of the cathedral, composed of a dean, six canons, and four vicars, elected in turn by the bishop and by the chapter. Among the higher educational institutions of the diocese is the Gym- nasium Carolinum, founded by Charlemagne; similar schools are at Meppen, Papenburg, and Osnabriick. The only religious communities of men are the Capu- chin convent at Klemenswerth and the Apostolic School of the Marists at Meppen. The religious orders of women include Benedictines, Borromcans, Franciscans, Ursulines, and others.

The Romanesque cathedral of Sts. Crispin and Crispinian w;vs built at the beginning of the twelfth century, and replaced the wooden church erected by Charlemagne. Later it took on Gothic embellish- ments, and in time became a treasury of precious objects of medieval art. Other fine churches are St. John's, Osnabriick, with three naves, Transition style (12.56-1592), the Sacred Heart, church (1897- 1901), and the churches in Iburg, Lingen, Meppen, Kloster-Oesede, Bissendorf, Norden, Salzbergen, and others.

History. — The foundation of the diocese is veiled in obscurity, for lack of authentic documents. Osna- briick is certainly the oldest see founded by Charle- magne in Saxony. The first bishop was St. Wiho (785-804) ; the second bishop, Meginhard, or Meingoz (804-33), was the real organizer of the see. The tem- poral possessions of the see, originally quite limited, grew in time, and its bishops exercised an extensive civil jurisdiction within the territory covered by their rights of immunity (q. v.). The temporal pro- tectorate (.\dvocatia, Vogtei) exercised over so many medieval dioceses by laymen became after the twelfth century hereditary in the Amelung family, from whom it passed to Henry the Lion. After Henry's over- throw it fell to Count Simon of Tecklenburg and to his descendants, though the source of many conflicts with the bishops. In 1230 the Count of Tecklenburg was forced to renounce all jurisdiction over the town of Osnabriick, and the lands of the see, the chapter, and the parish churches. On the other hand, the bishop and chapter, from the thirteenth century on, spread their jurisdiction over many convents, churches, and hamlets. Scarcely any other German see freed itself so thoroughly from civil jurisdiction within its territory. The royal prerogatives were transferred little by little to the bishop, e. g., the hold- ing of fairs and markets, rights of toll and coinage, forest and hunting rights, mining royalties, fortresses, etc., 80 that the bishop by the early part of the thir-

teenth century was the real governor of the civil territory of Osnabriick.

Among the prominent medieval bishops are Drogo (9.52-68); Conrad of Veltberg (1002); the learned Thietmar or Detmar (1003-22); Benno 11 (1007-88); Johann I (1001-10), who built the actual cathedral in place of the wooden one desti-oycd by file in the time of his predeces.sor; Diethard I (1119-37) was the first bishop elected by the free choice of the catlu'(h';il clergy; Philip II (1141-73) ended the conflicts be- tween his see and the Abbeys of Corvey and Hersfeld; Arnold (1137-1191) died a crusader before Akkon. In the time of Engelbert of Isenburg (1239-50), Bruno of Isenburg, and Conrad II of Rietberg (1269-07) the new orders of Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustin- ians were received with favour. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the power of the bishops waned before the increasing influence of the chapter, of the military servants (or knights) of the diocese, and of the town of Osnabriick. The latter sought to free itself from the bishop's sovereignty, but never became a free city of the empire. The see was almo.st continually engaged in warlike troubles and diffi- culties and had also to defend itself against the Bishops of Minden and Miinster. From the four- teenth century on we meet many auxiliary bishops of Osnabriick, made necessary by the civil duties that absorbed the attention of the ordinary.

The successor of Bishop Conrad IV of Rietberg (1488-1508) was Eric of Brunswick (1508-32), simul- taneously Bishop of Miinster and Paderborn. He opposed the Reformers strongly and successfully. Franz of Waldeck (1533-53), also Bishop of Minden, acted, on the contrary, a very doubtful part. He offered httle resistance to Lutheranism in Miinster, though he vigorously opposed the Anabaptists; after 1543 he allowed in Osnabriick an evangelical service. But the chapter and the Dominicans opposed a Ger- man service that dispensed with all the characteristics of the Mass. In 1548 Bishop Franz promised to suppress the Reformation in Osnabriick, and to exe- cute the Augsburg "Interim", but fulfilled his promise very indifferently; on his death-bed he received Lutheran communions. His successor, John IV of Hoya (1553-74), was more Catholic, but was succeeded by three bishops of a Protestant temper: Henry III of Saxony (1574-85), Bernhard of Waldeck (1,585-91), and Philip Sigismund (1591-1623). Under them the Reformation overran nearly the whole diocese.

In 1624 Cardinal Eitel Frederick of Hohenzollern became Bishop of Osnabriick, and called in the Jesuits. But he had scarcely begun his work when he died, and left to his successor, Francis of Warten- berg (162.5-61), the task of executing the Counter- Reformation (q. v.). The city-council was purified of anti-Catholic elements, and the former Augustinian convent was turned over to the Jesuits. The Edict of Restitution was executed successfully by him, and in 1631 he founded a university at Osnabriick. But in 1633 Osnabriick was captured by the Swedes, the university was discontinued, Cathcilic rclij^inus exer- cises suppressed, and the see (1633-51) administered by the conquerors. By the Peace of Westphalia, the bishop succeeded in preventing the secularization of the see, as contemplated by the Swedes. Never- theless, it was stipulated that henceforth a Catholic and a Protestant bishop (of the Augsburg Confession) would alternately hold the see. During the rule of the Protestant bishop, always chosen from the House of Brunswick-Liineburg, the spiritual government of the Catholics was committed to the Archbishop of Cologne. Wartenberg was made cardinal in 1660, and was succeeded by the Protestant married "bish- op", Ernest Augu.stus (1661-98), who transferred the residence to Hanover. He was succeeded by the Catholic bishop. Prince Charles Joseph of Lorraine, Bishop of Olmiitz, later Archbishop of Trier (1698-