Franz-Josef Rudigier
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Franz Joseph Rudigier | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Linz | |
 Franz Joseph Rudigier in 1870 | |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| Diocese | Linz |
| See | Linz |
| Appointed | 10 March 1853 |
| Installed | 12 June 1853 |
| Term ended | 29 November 1884 |
| Predecessor | Gregorius Thomas Ziegler |
| Successor | Ernest Maria Müller |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 12 April 1835 |
| Consecration | 5 June 1853 by Michele Viale-Prelà |
| Rank | Bishop |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Franz Joseph Rudigier 7 April 1811 Partenen, Vorarlberg, Austrian Empire |
| Died | 29 November 1884 (aged 73) |
| Buried | New Cathedral, Linz, Austria |
| Motto | Quis ut Deus ("Who is like God?") |
| Coat of arms |  |
Franz Josef Rudigier (7 April 1811 – 29 November 1884) was an Austrian Roman Catholic prelate and served as the Bishop of Linz from his appointment in 1853 until his death. Much of his local diocese grew due to his vigorous in promoting evangelic zeal and fundamental religious principles. He became the intellectual figurehead for Catholics in their struggle with liberalism. He promoted the Christian press and took a visible stand defending the 1855 concordat, when liberals annulled it without papal consultation in 1870. A beatification process for Rudigier was initiated under Pope Pius X in 1905 and he was titled as a Servant of God. The confirmation of his life of heroic virtue allowed for Pope Benedict XVI to name him as Venerable in 2009.
Franz Joseph Rudigier was born in the Austrian Empire on 7 April 1811 as the last of eight children to Johann Christian Rudigier and Maria Josepha Tschofen.
In 1823 Rudigier was sent to learn Latin under his brother Joseph, who had just been ordained as a priest, and then attended college at Innsbruck before deciding to start his studies to become a priest.[1] In 1831 he commenced his studies to become a priest in Brixen and was elevated to the diaconate on 5 April 1835. Rudigier was ordained to the priesthood in Bressanone on 12 April 1835.[2] The new priest was assigned as a pastor at Vandans and then from 1836 to Bürs until 1838 when he moved to the capital of Vienna for further studies at the Frintaneum; in 1839 he was made a professor of church history and canon law at Brixen when he returned there. Rudigier also served as a teacher of Emperor Franz Joseph I and his brother Maximilian I. In 1848, he was made the provost of San Candido and in 1850 the canon of Brixen.[2]
Franz Joseph I recommended Rudigier to become the Bishop of Linz and submitted this recommendation to Pope Pius IX in 1852; the pope confirmed the appointment on 10 March 1853; he was enthroned and received episcopal consecration on 5 June 1853 from the Cardinal Archbishop of Bologna Michele Viale-Prelà.[2]
The papal proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 prompted Rudigier to initiate the construction of a new cathedral in 1855 in honor of this occasion; construction was completed in 1924, long after the bishop's death.[2] He issued a pastoral letter on 7 September 1868 that called the faithful to oppose new marriage laws and he was arrested on 5 July 1869 and then sentenced for two weeks, effective the sentencing hearing on 12 July; he was released on 26 July and received an imperial pardon on 27 July.[3] He liked the notion of prison being a chance to suffer in the name of Jesus Christ.
Rudigier died on 29 November 1884; while ill, he was said to have often recited the last verses of the Stabat Mater: "Christe, cum sit hinc exire, da per matrem me venire ad palmam victoriae. Quando corpus morietur, fac, ut animæ donetur. Paradisi gloria".[1] His remains were interred at the Old Cathedral but in 1924 moved to the new cathedral.
