Фредерик Катцер: Австриялық текті американ ділдары

Austrian born prelate

Frederick Xavier Katzer (February 7, 1844 – July 20, 1903) was an Austrian born prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay in Wisconsin (1886–1891) and archbishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in Wisconsin (1891–1903).

Frederick Katzer was born on February 7, 1844, in Ebensee, in the Austrian Empire (today part of Austria) to Carl and Barbara Katzer. The family later moved to Gmunden, where Katzer received his early education while also working in a textile factory. In 1857, he entered the minor seminary at Freinberg, where he pursued his classical studies under the Jesuits. Katzer was recruited by Father Francis Pierz for missionary work in the United States and, through a grant from the Leopoldine Society, he landed in New York on May 19, 1864. After arriving in Minnesota, however, the diocese informed him that he was not needed there. Katzer then considered joining the Jesuits, but Father Joseph Salzmann instead convinced him to come to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Katzer completed his theological studies at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee.

Katzer was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on December 21, 1866, by Bishop John Henni. He was appointed to the faculty of Saint Francis Seminary, serving as a professor of mathematics, philosophy, and theology. In July 1875, Katzer was transferred to the Diocese of Green Bay and named secretary to the new bishop, Francis Krautbauer. That same year, Katzer was appointed vicar general of the diocese. In the 1890 election, the bishop strongly endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate George Wilbur Peck, who when elected signed the repeal of the Bennett Law in 1891.

The death of Archbishop Michael Heiss in March 1890 left the Archdiocese of Milwaukee vacant. To replace Heiss, the bishops of Wisconsin recommended three German speaking candidates (in order of preference): Katzer, Bishop Kilian Flasch, or Bishop Henry Richter. Some English speaking Catholics, however, opposed Katzer's nomination out of their desire to assimilate Catholic immigrants into American society rather than maintain their ethnic traditions. At a meeting of American archbishops in July 1890, the hierarchy instead named Bishop John Spalding as their top choice, followed by Bishop Martin Marty and Richter. In 1899, following the publication of Testem benevolentiae nostrae, Katzer praised Leo XIII's condemnation of "the errors called by the name of Americanism with all the more joy and gratitude because the decision of the infallible See appeared to us very opportune." The following year, he wrote a letter to the Vatican protesting the appointment of Bishop John J. Keane as archbishop of Dubuque, claiming that Keane belonged to the "liberal Americanists" and that his appointment to a nearby diocese would be hazardous to Milwaukee. Katzer denied those allegations and wrote to Cardinal Gibbons, saying, "If I hold different opinions is that a reason to belie me in manner which is almost diabolical?" Katzer was a strong critic of Archbishop Ireland's Faribault–Stillwater plan, which would place parochial schools under the public school system with the provision that religious instruction would be given outside school hours. He added his name to a letter written by Archbishop Corrigan opposing the plan, and was considered along with Ireland for presenting both sides of the school question to Rome. Such a condemnation was later issued by the Holy Office in 1894 but bishops were given discretion in publicizing the decree. By his final year as archbishop in 1903, there were 329 priests, 321 churches, 148 parochial schools, and 280,861 Catholics. Frederick Katzer died from liver cancer at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on July 20, 1903. He is buried in a small cemetery on the grounds of Saint Francis Seminary.