Diepenbrock, Melchior Baron of

Diepenbrock, Melchior Baron Of, was born at Bocholt, in Westphalia, January 6th, 1798. In 1814 he entered the Prussian militia, and after 1818 studied theology at Landshut, Mayence, and Munster. He was consecrated priest in 1823, but remained with bishop Sailer (q.v.) as secretary at Regensburg. In 1830 he was made dean, and in 1835 prebendary of the cathedral. He afterwards acted as episcopal vicar general from 1842 to 1844, was created baron in 1845, and elected prince bishop of Breslau. In 1848 he was sent to the Parliament at Frankfort. In the conflict between the Prussian government and the Legislature, which refused to the former the right of levying taxes, Diepenbrock vigorously supported the government, and issued a pastoral, which, by order of the government, was published in all the official papers. He was made cardinal in 1850, and died Jan. 20, 1853, at Johannisberg, in Austrian Silesia. In 1850 he founded the Melchior fund of 10,000 florins for the support of poor chaplains in the Austrian part of the diocese of Breslau. He was a moderate Papist, and, like most of the school of Sailer, earnest in piety and Church reforms. SEE SAILER. His principal works are, Geistlicher Blumenstrauss (Regensburg, 1826; 2d ed. Sulzb. 1852): — Erinnerungen an d. jungen Grafen v. Stolberg; Leben Heinrich Suso's (Regensb. 2d ed. 1837): — Vlämisches Stillleben nach Conscience, and several sermons. A biography of Diepenbrock was published by his successor in the see of Breslau, bishop Foerster, in 1859. — Pierer, Universal-Lexikon, s.v.