Franz Ehrle, S.J. | |
|---|---|
| Cardinal Deacon ofSan Cesareo in Palatio | |
 | |
| Other post | Prefect of theVatican Library (1895–1914) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 24 September 1876 |
| Created cardinal | 11 December 1922 byPope Pius XI |
| Rank | Cardinal Deacon |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1845-10-17)October 17, 1845 |
| Died | March 31, 1934(1934-03-31) (aged 88) |
| Buried | Campo Verano |
| Parents | Franz Ehrle & Berta von Frölich |
| Alma mater | Maria Laach Abbey (1868); Ditton Hall,Liverpool, England (1877) |
Franz EhrleSJ (17 October 1845 – 31 March 1934) was a German Jesuit priest and acardinal of theRoman Catholic Church. He served as theArchivist of the Secret Archives of the Vatican, in the course of which he became a leading agent in the revival ofThomism in the teachings of the Catholic Church.[1]
He was born inIsny im Allgäu in theKingdom of Württemberg,[2] the son of Franz Ehrle, a physician, and Berta von Frölich; he was educated at the Jesuit schoolStella Matutina inFeldkirch. He joined theSociety of Jesus on 20 September 1861. After completing the two years of hisnovitiate program of formation atGorheim,Hohenzollern, he studied followed humanities at college inMünster, and later studied philosophy at the JesuitMaria Laach Abbey (1865–1868). For theregency phase of his training in the Jesuit order from 1868-1873, Ehrle was sent to teach at his old secondary school, Stella Matutina, where he taught English, French and philosophy. Due to an anti-Jesuit policy that followed the publication of theKulturkampf in Germany, Ehrle, along with other German companions, had to carry on his studies abroad;[2] he studiedtheology at Ditton Hall, a Jesuit seminary inLiverpool, England (1873–1877).
After beingordained apriest on 24 September 1876 in Liverpool,[3] Ehrle carried out pastoral work in a home for the poor atPreston, Lancashire, before being transferred in 1878 toTervuren, Belgium, where the German Jesuit periodicalStimmen aus Maria-Laach (Voices from Maria Laach) had established its office in exile, to serve as its editor.
WhenPope Leo XIII opened the Vatican Secret Archives in 1880, Ehrle was called to Rome to do research on the official correspondence between the Holy See and Germany during theThirty Years War. The work progressed very slowly as a large number of documents were as yet lacking detailed catalogs. Ehrle became more and more involved, but, responding to Pope Leo's call for a renewal inThomistic studies, his interests shifted to gathering and cataloging books and manuscripts relating toscholasticism, and he visited other European libraries to do so. Publications began in 1885 with theBibliotheca Theologiae et Philosophiae Scholasticae selectae (5 volumes). In the beginning of 1890 he began the publication of aHistoria Bibliothecae Romanorum Pontificum, a comprehensive history of the papal libraries from bothAvignon and Rome.
In September of that same year (1890), Ehrle was made a member extraordinary of the Board of Councilors of theVatican Library, serving from 1890 to 1895, after which he served as its prefect until 1914.
In 1898 (30 September – 1 October), Ehrle organized an international conference on the preservation of manuscripts at the SwissAbbey of St Gall. As a result of the conference, a committee was established:
Ehrle published an account of the meeting[4] and the proceedings were also published.[5]This conference was particularly important as the first international meeting of those charged with the preservation of the historical heritage. Nothing similar took place again until the 1930s when the international museum committee of theLeague of Nations organized conservation conferences in Rome, Paris and Athens.
Under Ehrle's direction the printed books housed in the Appartamento Borgia were consolidated and moved to be stored with the main library collection. His measures of reorganization allowed for research scholars to finally have access to the public reference collection. Ehrle also worked to have reference librarians available to assist researchers. Extending the library's hours of operation to meet the needs of researchers, he opened to them use of the entire catalog, and eased restrictions on scholars' use and research of Vatican library treasures. Ehrle's efforts to meet the needs of researchers led to increase use of the Vatican Library and in 1910 a reading room was created in space formerly occupied by the Vatican printworks. This change also improved readers' access to the stacks. Ehrle also began a descriptive cataloging project for the Vatican Library's collection that he projected would take 80 to 100 years to complete. Ehrle's forward thinking nature also led him to introduce the use of photography to preserve endangered manuscripts before other libraries began the practice. Such photographical techniques also permitted researchers increased access to information on manuscripts. Ehrle sought not only to provide for the protection and repair of Vatican manuscripts, but also to make available the facilities of Vatican workshops to aid in preserving endangered manuscripts from around the world.[6]
Ehrle resided in Münich from 1918 to 1919. Returning then to Rome, he served as a faculty member of thePontifical Biblical Institute until 1922 and of thePontifical Gregorian University. He was promoted to the office ofCardinal Deacon byPope Pius XI at thepapal consistory of 11 December 1922, and given thetitular church ofSan Cesareo in Palatio. He died on 31 March 1934 in Rome at the age of 88. For the last year of his life, he had been the oldest member of theCollege of Cardinals. He was buried in theCampo Verano.[7]
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| Preceded by | Oldest living Member of the Sacred College 9 February 1933 – 31 March 1934 | Succeeded by |
