Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/747

 ELEUTGEN

667

KLINKOWSTROM

PALLIK, Regesten zur Gesch, der Erzdiuzese Wien, II (Vienna, 1894), 160-289; Hdbteb, Gesch. Kaiser Fenlinamls II. u. seiner EUem (U vols., SchaCfhausen. 1.S53-64); Gindely, Gesch. des SO-jahrigen Krieges, I (Prague, 1869); Wiedemann, Gesch. der Reform, und GeQenreform. im Lande unter der Enns (5 vols., Prague, 1879-86).

C. VVOLFSGBUBER.

Eleutgen, Josef Wilhelm K.^jil, German theo- logian antl philosopher, b. at Dortmund, Westphalia, 9 April, ISll ; d. at St. Anton near Kaltern, Tyrol, 13 Jan., 1883. He began his studies with the intention of becoming a priest, but, owing to the Protestant at- mosphere of the school which he attended, his zeal for religion gradually cooled. From 28 April, 1830, to 8 Jan., 1831, he studied philology at the University of Munich. He was intensely interested in Plato's phi- losophy and the Greek tragic poets. Though he clung to the Faith, it ceased to be the ruling principle of his life, and he fell into a deep melancholy. In this state he was about to enter upon a secular career, when he suddenly received what he always regarded as a spe- cial illumination from heaven. Still he was not at rest. During the preceding years he had imbibed certain ideas from Lessing's and Herder's writings, which he could not reconcile with the Christian Faith. After several weeks of internal conflict he betook himself to prayer, and to his astonishment many of his difficul- ties vanished at once ; the remainder disappeared grad- ually. At Easter, 1832, he entered the theological academy of Miinster, and after two terms went to the seminary at Paderborn, where he was onlained sub- deacon on 22 Feb., 1834. On 28 A|5ril he entered the Society of Jesus at Brig, Switzerlantl, and, to avoid any trouble with the German Government in the matter of military service, he became a naturalized citizen in one of the Swiss cantons, and changed his name to "Pe- ters". After his ordination to the priesthood in 1837 he was professor of ethics in Fribourg, Switzerland, for two years; he then taught rhetoric in Brig from 1840 till 1843. In 1843 he was appointed professor of sacred eloquence in the German College, Rome.

During his residence in Rome and the vicinity (1843-74), besides pastoral work and the compo.sition of his principal writings, he was substitute to the secre- tary of the General of the Jesuits (1843-56), secretary (1856-62), consultor of the Congregation of the Index, and collaborator in the preparation of the Constitu- tion " De fide Catholica " of the Vatican Council. He composed the first draft of the Encyclical "^terni Patris" of Pope Leo XIII on Scholasticism (1879). He played a leading part in the revival of Scholastic philosophy and theology, and so thorough was his mastery of the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas that he was called Thomas redh'hms (Thomas returned to life). With the object of combating the doctrines of Hermes, Hirscher, and Giinther, he compcsed his "Theologie der Vorzeit" and "PhUosophie der Vor- zeit ", works which upon their appearance were pro- nounced in many quarters to be epoch-making. When he died, Leo XIII said of him : " Erat princeps philoso- phorum " (he was the prince of philosophers). Some years before the Vatican Council Kleutgen was con- fessor extraordinary to the Benedictine Convent of St. Ambrose in Rome. The nuns of this convent hon- oured as a saint one of their sisters who had died fifty years before. This was reported to the Holy Office, and everyone concerned was severely punished; Kleut- gen and the ordinarj' confessor (both men of excep- tionally holy lives) were suspended, because of lack of prudence in directing the nuns, for awhile even from saying Mass.

Kleutgen consequently left Rome and went to the secluded shrine of Our Lady in Galoro, where he wrote the greater part of his "Theologie der Vorzeit" aiul "Philosophic der Vorzeit ". After the opening of the council, at the urgent request of several liishops, es- pecially Archbishop Stein, Apostolic Vicar of Calcutta, his superior general recalled him to Rome to place his

talents and learning at the disposal of the council, and Pius IX removed all ecclesiastical censures as .soon as he became acquainted with the work which Kleutgen had written. In 1879 some Old Catholics spread the report that Kleutgen had been condemned by the Roman Inquisition to an imprisonment of six years on account of complicity in the poisoning of a Princess von Hohenlohe; but, on 7 March, Juvenal Pelami, No- tary of the Inquisition, testified that Kleutgen had never been summoned before the Inquisition upon such a charge, and consequently had not been pun- ished by it. Possessed of high gifts and vast erudition, and, in consequence, very much in the public eye, Kleutgen was also a model religious and a man of austerely simple life. He was very fond of the poor, and they in turn almost worshipped him. When he preached, his plain, straightforward, simple language had an appeal even for the intelligence of the most il- literate; and when in conversation with the learned, who often came to consult him, his flow of speech was as free, copious, and unembarrassed as though he were reading from a book.

Kleutgen's principal works are: "Die alten und die neuen Schulen" (Mainz, 1846; Miinster, 1869); " Ueber den Glauben an das Wunderbare " (Miinster, 1846); ".\rs dicendi" (Rome, 1847; Turin, 1903); "Die Theologie der Vorzeit " (3 vols., Miinster, 185.3- 60; 5 vols., 1867-74); " Leben frommer Diener und Dienerinnen Gottes " (Miinster. 1S69); "Die Philos- ophic der Vorzeit" (2 vols., Miinster, 1860-3; Inns- bruck, 1878), translated into French and Italian; "Die Verurteilung des Ontologismus " (Miinster, 1868), translated into French and Italian; "Zumeiner Rechtfertigung " (Miinster, 1868) ; " Vom mtellectus agens und den angeborenen Ideen ", " Zur Lehre vom Glauben" (Miinster, 1875); "Die Ideale und ihre wahre Verwirklichung " (Frankfurt, 1S6S) ; "Ueber die Wtinsche, Befiirchtungen und Hoifnungen in BetrelT der bevorstehenden Kirclienver.sammlung " (Minister, 1869); "Briefeaus Rom" (Miinster, 1869); " Predig- ten" (Regensburg, 1872; 2 vols., 1S80-5); "Die oberste Lehrgewalt des romischen Bischofs" (Trier, 1870); "De ipso Deo" (Ratisbon, 1881); "DasEvan- gelium des heiligen Matthaus" (Freiburg, 1882).

Langhorst in Stimmen aus Maria-Laach (lSS.'i); LlESEN in Der Kalholik, I (1SS3); Gr.ujderath, Gesch. rfes vatikanischen Komils.W (Freiburg, 190.3); Tlvim.Jesuilen-Fahdn (Freiburg, 1891); Sachs in Buchberger's Kirchliches Handlex. (Munich, 1908), s. v.; SoMMERVOGEL, Bibl. de la C. de J. (Piris, 1893).

John J. Toohey.

Klinkowstrom, Friedrich August von, artist, author, and teacher, b. at Ludwigsburg in Swedish Pomerania on 31 August, 1778; d. at Vienna, 4 April, 1835. This famous convert came from an old Pomer- anian noble family. At the age of sixteen, in deference to the wishes of his father, a lieutenant-colonel in the Swedish army, Friedricli adopted the military calUng, but only remained in the service from 1793 to 1802. After this he was allowed to follow his own inclina- tion and become a painter. To perfect himself in liis studies, he went to the famous Dresden Gallery. His early pictures as well as the whole earnest bend of his mind showed a strong leaning towards the Catholic Church. After four years of successful study he was called home and obliged to remain there quietly for two years, owing to the gloomy political condition of the country after the battle of Jena. Then a great longing seized him for Rome, the home of all art. He journeyed first through Paris, where the victorious Napoleon had amassed the richest art treasures from all lands. His stay in Paris lasted nearly two years, and terminated happily with his engagement. Finally in 1810 he started for Rome. But the quickly formed friendship with Thorwaldsen, Ranch, Overbeck, and other artists, unfortunately only lasted a year, as Klinkowstrom was obliged to look about for an as- sured position. This led him to Vienna to take a place as instructor, and his marriage followed in 1812.