Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/779

 KRAUS

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KRAUS

KrasiAski's poetry, possibly the noblest of all con- temporary efforts to base politics on the principles of Christianity, has for key-note his exclusive interest in all such pohtical questions as touch upon a happier future for the world. The "Infernal Comedy" deals with all Europe as a whole and in general; " Irydion" enquires how any particular nation is to be regen- erated ; " Before Dawn " gives the answer, as also do the "Psalms of the Future", though more distinctly and with less of enshrouding mysticism. As a thinker, Krasinski is greater than as a poet. Though at times too obscure, too allegorical, and too prone to set forth his message at the expense of artistic form, yet his creations show wonderful talent, rich imagination, and complete originality. He owes nothing either to antiquity or to contemporaries, whether English, Polish, or German. His defects (redundancy of orna- ment, exaggeration in thought, turgidity of style), con- spicuous only in his feebler works, pass unnoticed in his greatest creations, of which they cannot impair the grandeur. No Pohsh author writes with greater splen- dour and majesty. He is representative of the noblest trends of the thought of his time, and eloquently ex- pressive of his nation's sufferings, whilst he warns her not to go astray and points out the way to salvation. He is indeed one of the mightiest minds that Poland ever brought forth.

S. Tahnowski.

Kraus, Franz Xaver, ecclesiastical and art his- torian, b. at Trier, 18 September, 1840; d. at San Remo, 28 December, 1901. He completed his .studies in the Trier gymnasium, began his theology in 1858-60 in the seminary there, and finished it in 1862-64, hav- ing passed in France the time from the autumn of 1860 to the spring of 1862 as tutor in distinguished French families. He was ordained a priest by the suffragan bishop Eberhard of Trier, 23 March, 1864. Even after he became a prie-st, he continued his studies in theology and philology at the universities of Tubingen, Frei- burg — where he had received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1862, and received that of Doctor of Divinity in 186.5 — and Bonn. In the autumn of 1865 he became beneficiary of Pfalzel near Trier, where he developed a zealous literary activity, interrupted by several journeys for the purpose of study to Paris, Belgium, and to Rome in January, 1870. In the spring of 1872 he was attached to the faculty of philosophy at the University of Strasburg as professor extraor- dinary of the history of Christian art, and in the au- tumn of 1878 he succeeded Johann Alzog as professor ordinary of Church history at Freiburg. In 1890 he was made grand-ducal privy councillor, and held the office of pro-rector of the university for the period 1890-1. He was also curator of religious antiquities in the Grand Duchy of Baden, and from 1883 a mem- ber of the Baden Historical Commission.

Kraus was a man of brilliant and versatile talents, a scholar of great learning, a clever and elegant writer, and, in spite of ill-health and the acute bodily suffer- ings of his closing years, an author of wonderful pro- ductivity, who delighted in his work. Although, from an ecclesiastical standpoint, much of his literary work is greatly to be deplored and rejected, and though his political activity — to which we shall refer later — did not always influence favourably his intel- lectual labours, his achievements of positive and per- manent value form a sufficiently imposing array to en- title Kraus to a place among the ablest scholars of the nineteenth century, .\fter a few translations from the French (van Hemel, de Ravignan, ami Lacordaire) he began his independent literary career with small works on the history of early Christian literature in the first centuries and the Middle Ages, among them: "^-Egi- dius von Rom" (in " Oesterreichische Vierteljahres- schrift fur kath. Theologie", I, 1862); "Observationes criticae in Synesii Cyrenaji epistulas " (Sulzbach, 1863);

"Studien uber Synesios von Kyrene " (in "Theolo- gische Quartalschrift ", XLVH, 1865; " Der Briefwech- sel Pauli mit Seneca " (" Theologische Quartalschrift", XLIX, 1867), and later " Ueber das Martyrium des h. Ignatius von Antiochien" ("Theol. Quartalsclirift ", LV, 1873). Of the edition of the "Opera omnia" of Thomas a Kempis, undertaken by Kraus, only the first volume appeared ("Opuscula ", Trier, 1868). Another .series of writings, published in the "Bonner Jahrljiicher des Vereins von Alterthumsfreunden " and in the "Serapeum", deals with particular features of the history and archseology of Trier. In this manner Kraus was led on to the study of Christian archa^ology in general, and then to Christian art in all its a.spects, thus reaching the field of research for which he seemed particularly qualified, and in which he was to accom- plish his best work. Among other larger or smaller publications we may mention; "Beithige zur Trier- ischen Archaologie und Geschichte. I. Der heilige Xagel in der Domkirche zu Trier " (Trier, 1S6S) ; " Die Kunst bei den alten Christen " (Frankfort -on-the-Main, 186iS) ; "Die christliche Kunst in ihren fruhesten .Vnfiingen. Mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der neuesten Re- sultate der Katakomben-Forschung popular darge- stellt" (Leipzig, 1872); "Ueber den gegenwiirtigen Stand der Frage nach dem Inhalte und der Bedeutung der rijmischen Blutampullen " (Freiburg, 1872) ; " Das Spottcrucifix vom Palatin" (Freiburg, 1872); "Roma sotterranea: Die romischen Katakomben. Eine Dar- stellung der neuesten Forschungen, mit Zugrundele- gung des Werkes von J. Spencer Northcote und W. R. Brownlow" (Freiburg, 1873; 2nd ed., 1879); "Ueber das Studium der Kunstwissensehaft an den deutscheu Hochschulen " (Strasburg, 1874); "Ueber Begriff, Umfang, Geschichte der christ lichen Ar- chaologie und die Bedeutung der monumeiitalen Stu- dien fur die historische Theologie. Akademische Antrittsrede" (Freiburg, 1879); "Synchronistische Tabellen zur christlichen Kunstgeschichte " (Frei- burg, 1880).

These were followed by the great works which con- stitute Kraus's chief claim to an enduring fame: "Kunst und .\lterthum in Elsass-Lothringen. Be- schreibende Statistik im Auftrage des kaiserlichen Oberprasidiums von Elsass-Lothringen herausgege- ben" (4 vols., Strasburg. 1876-92); " Real-Encyklo- piidie der christlichen Alterthilmer " (2 vols., Freiburg, 1882-6) ; " Die Kimstdenkmiiler des Grossherzogthuras Baden" (vols. I-VI, 1, Freiburg, 1887-1904— is being continued by other authors); "Die christlichen Inscliriften der Rheinlande " (2 vols., Freiburg, 1890- 4) ; and lastly his masterpiece: " Geschichte der christ- lichen Kunst " (vol. I and the first half of volume II, Freiburg, 1896-1900). The second half of volume two, which brings the description of the Italian Re- naissance to a close, was published by Joseph Sauer in 1908. This work combined the results of all Kraus's labours in the field of art. Its chief merit lies in the description of the connexion of art with the general and religious culture of the different periods. Other important publications belong to the special history of art: "Die Wandgemalde der St. Georgskirche zu Ohcr- zell auf der Reichenau " (Freiburg. 1884) ; " Die Mini- aturen des Codex Egbert! in der Stadtbibliothek zu Trier" (Freiburg, 1884); "Die Miuiaturen der Ma- nesseschen Liederhandschrift" (Strasburg, 1887); "Die mittelalterlichen Wandgemalde im Grossherzogthum Baden" (with H. von Oechelhiiuser, vol. I, Darm- stadt, 1893); "Die Wandgemalde der Sylvesterka- pelle zu Golilbach am Bodensee " (Munich, 1902). Kraus's hterary leanings were directed especially to- wards Italy. After a close .study of Dante, covering years of labour, he pul>lished the work, which must be ranked among his greatest: "Dante. Seni Leljen und sein Werk. Sein Verhidtniss zur Kunst und Politik" (Berlin, 1897). Thous'i his opinions may not be in all cases incontestable, this work will always claim a