Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/709

 KERVYN

629

EETTELER

parts most biased, to the prejudice of the municipal autliorities and tlie patricians. Tlieir anger being roused, they compelled him to retract several passages as being erroneous, to deliver over his manuscript, and to promise on oatli to write no more books. This work was published in 1730 at Leipzig by Mencke in " Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum", vol. Ill, and in a German translation at Frankfort in 1771 under the title "Geschichtf dcr \Vicdert:iufer zu Miinster nebst einerBeschreiliuiiK; der Hauptstadt". Detmer brought out a revised edition: " Hermanni a Kerssenbroch anabaptistici furoris Monasterium inclitam West- phalise metropolim evertentis historica narratio" (Munster, 1899), partsof it being extremely instructive. Kerssenbroch's position in Munster ha\'ing become insupportable, he went to Paderborn, and while there, in spite of his oath, he published "Catalogus episco- porum paderbonensium eorumque acta" (Lemgo, 1578), availing himself of Gobelinus Persona and others. The open violation of his oath lost him the respect of many friends, and forced him to leave Paderborn. At Werl he prepared a vindication, which, however, was never printed, " Causarum eapti- vitatis M. Hermanni a Kerssenbrock succineta narra- tio cum earundem vera et solida confutatione". To revenge himself upon his enemies, he resorted to a means which imperilled his life; he wrote a biting satire "Noctua", in which he so exasperated his opponents that they sent a delegation to Werl to call him to account for perjury and breaking his oath, and his only safety lay in flight.

Detmer, Hermann von Kerssenbroch* s Leben und Schriflen (Munster, 1900); Allg. Deul. Biog., s. v.; Geschichtsguellen ties Bistums Munster, II (Munster, 1853), pp. xxxvii-lx.

Fatricius Schlagek.

Kervyn de Lettenhove, Joseph-Mabie-Bruno- CoNSTANTiN, Barou. Belgian statesman and his- torian, b. at Saint-Michel-lez-Bruges, 17 August, 1S17; d. there, 3 April, 1891. He entered very early on a political career, and in 1861 was sent to the Chamber of Representatives by the district of Eecloo. He took an active part in most parliamentary de- bates on foreign affairs and public instruction, and in 1870 upon the accession of his party, the Consti- tvitional Catholics, he received the portfolio of the Interior. His ministerial career, however, was short-lived; he made the mistake of appointing to the governorship of Limburg P. de Decker, a former minister whose name had been connected with a financial failure (see Belgium), and was compelled to resign. He remained in the Chamber of Repre- sentatives, but gradually withdrew from politics and devoted his time to historical researches. He had already won some fame in that field: in 18.56 the French Academy had crowned his work "Etudes sur les Chroniques de Froissart ". Kervyn travelled ex- tensively in Europe, visiting most libraries and archives of note, gathering data for his historical works, some of which have modified on a number of points the prevailing opinion of his time. His style is grave and polished but somewhat bombastic. He has been charged, but without sufficient reason, with vulfairness to Queen Elizabeth, William the Silent, and Marnix de Sainte Aldegonde. His most impor- tant works, besides the one already mentioned, are: "Histoire de Flandre" (Brussels, 1847-50); "Lettres et negociations de Philippe de Commines" (Brussels, 1867); "Chroniques relatives a I'histoire de la Bel- gique sous la domination des dues de Bourgogne" (Brussels, 1870-7): "Marie Stuart" (Paris, 1889); "Relations de la Bclgiqvie et de r.\ngleterre sous le regne de Philippe H" (Brussels, 1882-91).

Kervyn de Lettenhove, Biography, I (Bruges, 1900); Alemoirs and Bulletins of the Royal Academy of Belgium (Bnis- sels); Bibliographie de Belgique iHuissela, 1S90); Bibtiographie Acadtmique (Brussela, 1855).

Pierre Marique.

Kessels, Matthias, sculptor, b. at Maastricht, 1784; d. at Rome, 3 March, 1836. He was first apprenticed to a goldsmith at Venloo, but went early to Paris and studied at the Beaux Arts. In 1806 he found his way to St. Petersburg, and abode there eight years, making silver and wax models and sculptures of various kinds. In 1814 he returned to Paris and attached himself to the atelier of Girodet; finally, having <lecided to go to Rome, he was re- ceived into the studio of Thorvaldsen ; it is of interest to know that he worked on the famous reliefs of "Day" and "Night" (1819). In a competition opened by Canova for young artists, Kessels won the highest award with his "St. Sebastian pierced with arrows", a piece of frank and beautiful workmanship. For the Duke of Alba, Kessels executed his small "Disk-thrower reclining", and the "Cupid whetting his darts " ; for the Prince of Orange, "Paris resting ", a colossal marble placed at Laeken, and which ob- tained for him the Order of Leopold; for the Duke of Devonshire, the heroic "Disk-thrower in action".

He also made a group in marble of figures in the Deluge, and the tomb in Rome of the Countess de Celles, wife of the Ambassador of the Netherlands. Lesser works are the 'Woman weeping over an Urn ", the "Genius of Art", and a bust of Admiral Tromp. Kessels excelled particularly in religious subjects: "Christ at the Column", colossal busts of Christ and the Virgin Mary, a low relief of the head of Our Sav- iour, the Four Evangelists in terra-cotta, and a "Pieta". He was engaged on a "St. Michael over- coming the Hydra of Anarchy", for the church of Ste-Gudule, Brussels, when death claimed him. Kes- sels is not much known, but he belongs to the Roman school, founded by Canova and Thorvaldsen, which adhered strictly to idealism and to the laws pre- scribed by the antique. He is one of the group with Schadow, Wolff, and others. He was a member of the Academy of St. Luke and of the Institute of the Netherlands. A ' ' Disk- thrower " by him is in the gardens of the Palais des Academics, Brussels.

LuBKE, History of Sculpture, tr. Bunnett (London, 1872): Nagler, Neues Allgemeines Kiinstler Lexicon (Munich, 1854).

M. L. Handley.

Ketteler, Wilhelm Emmanuel, Baron von, Bishop of Mainz, b. at Munster, in Westphaha, 25 Dec, 1811; d. at Burghausen, 13 July, 1877. He was about to enter the Prussian bureaucracy when, in 1837, the persecution conducted by Prussia against Archbishop Droste-Vischering of Cologne touched Ketteler's religious spirit and led him to resign. In 1841 he studied theology at Munich University, and in 1843 he completed liis preparation for the priesthood at the Seminary of Munster. In 1844 he became a curate at Beckum and in 1846 rector of Hopsten in Westphalia. Elected by the District of Tecklenburg und Warcndorf to the Frankfort Parliament in 1848, Ketteler ilistinguished himself by his broad and dis- cerning intelligence of the social movements of liis time. In the oration which he delivered 21 Sept., 1848, at the funeral of General Auerswald and Prince Lichnowsky, victims of a riot, he exonerated the great body of the tierman people from responsibility for the crime. .\t the Catholic Congress of Mainz (Oct., 1848), one of the first of the great meetings of German Cath- ohcs, he offered a toast to " the plain people " and de- clared that as religion has neetl of freedom, so has freedom need of religion. Finally, during the .Advent of 1848, he preached at Mainz two sermons, on the Catholic theory of property and on the duties of Chris- tian charity, developing the sociology of St. Thomas Aquinas, and demonstrating the manner in which it answered every social need of the times. He became rector of St. Hedwig in Berlin, Oct., 1849, where Bishop Diepenbrock of Breslau entrusted him with the task of bringing back to Catholicism the famous Prot-