Anthony Kohlmann
Encyclopedia
Anthony Kohlmann was a German Jesuit. He is known for his part in the establishment of confessional privilege
in United States law. He spent nearly a quarter of a century in the USA as an educator.
. At an early age he was compelled by the troubles of the French Revolution
to go to live in Switzerland
, where at the college of Fribourg
he completed his theological studies and was ordained priest. Soon after, in 1796, he joined the Congregation of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart. With them he spent two years in Austria and Italy as a military chaplain
. From Italy he was sent to Dillingen in Bavaria, as director of an ecclesiastical seminary, then to Berlin
, and next to Amsterdam to direct a college established by the Fathers of the Faith of Jesus, with whom the Congregation of the Sacred Heart had united (11 April 1799).
The Society of Jesus in Russia
having been recognized (1801) by Pope Pius VII
, Father Kohlmann joined it and entered the novitiate at Dunébourg on 21 June 1803. A year later, in response to a call for additional workers in the United States, he was sent to Georgetown, D.C., where he was made assistant to the master of novices, and went on missionary tours to the several German congregations in Pennsylvania
and Maryland
.
Affairs in the Catholic Church in New York
having gone badly, Bishop Carroll picked him out as the person best qualified to introduce the needed reforms and to restore order, and with his fellow Jesuits, Benedict Fenwick and four scholastics, James Wallace, Michael White, James Redmond, and Adam Marshall, he took charge there in October, 1808. It was a time of great commercial depression in the city owing to the results of the Embargo Act of 22 December 1807. The Catholic population, he states in a letter written on 8 November 1808, consisted "of Irish, some hundreds of French and as many Germans; in all according to the common estimation of 14,000 souls". Such progress was made under his direction that the cornerstone of a new church, old St. Patrick's Cathedral
, the second church erected in New York City, was laid on 8 June 1809. He started a classical school called the New York Literary Institution, which he carried on successfully for several years in what was then a suburban village but is now the site of St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. In April, 1812, he also started a school for girls in the same neighbourhood, in charge of Ursuline nuns who came at his instance for that purpose from their convent in County Cork
, Ireland
.
About the same time Father Kohlmann became the central figure in a lawsuit that excited national interest. He had been instrumental in having stolen goods restored to a man, who demanded in court that the priest should reveal from whom he had received them. Father Kohlmann refused to do this, on the ground that his information had been received under the seal of confession. The case was taken before the Court of General Sessions, where after a trial the decision rendered by De Witt Clinton was given in his favour. Its principle was later embodied in the State law passed on 10 December 1828, which enacted that
To a report of the case when published Father Kohlmann added an exposition of the teachings of the Church on penance
. (Sampson, "The Catholic Question in America", appendix, New York, 1813.) The book excited a long and vigorous controversy with a number of Protestant ministers, and was followed in 1821 by another learned work, "Unitarianism, Theologically and Philosophically considered", in which Father Kohlmann replied to the assertions of Jared Sparks
and other Unitarian
leaders.
New York had no bishop as yet, the first appointed having died in Italy before he reached his see, and Father Kohlmann governed as administrator for several years. In 1815, expecting the early arrival of the second bishop (Connolly), he returned to the college of his order at Georgetown, D. C., as master of novices, and in 1817 became superior. He served as the President of Georgetown College
from 1817-1820.
In 1821 he founded the Washington Seminary, which later became Gonzaga College High School.
Shortly afterwards Kohlmann became interested in the work of Prince Alexander von Hohenlohe, a charismatic German priest and nobleman who claimed to be able to effect miracle cures. Hohenlohe was supposed, in particular, to have saved the life of a German princess, Mathilda von Schwarzenburg, when he and a peasant associate prayed over her. The case was much publicized, and, although the Catholic authorities in Europe never endorsed Hohenlohe’s cures, many, including Fr Kohlmann, believed in them.
In 1824 he learned that a prominent Washington Catholic, Mrs Ann Mattingly, was suffering from cancer, and decided to contact Hohenlohe in an effort to cure her. He wrote to the princely miracle-worker in Bamberg, Germany, and got him to agree to pray for Mrs Mattingly at a certain precise time several months later. In Washington he arranged for one of his Jesuit colleagues to say mass by her bedside at the chosen hour, while he celebrated yet another mass in the Georgetown University chapel.
These trans-Atlantic negotiations took some time, and meanwhile Mrs Mattingly’s condition worsened. Her brother, the mayor of Washington, protested to Kohlmann that she would be dead before the prayer session could occur, but Kohlmann told him not to worry, that the splendour of the miracle would be all the greater for occurring at the very last minute.
At the appointed time, the three priests said their masses in different places and soon afterwards Mrs Mattingly was healed. She arose from her bed, proclaimed herself entirely cured and went on to live in good health for another thirty years.
The story of her cure attracted great interest in the press. To some Catholics it was proof of the power of prayer and of the superiority of their religion, while to Protestants and “free thinkers”, it smacked of medieval superstition and priestly chicanery. The Catholic hierarchy stood aloof from the conflict: None of Hohenlohe’s “miracles” was ever endorsed by the Church, and certainly not the cure of Mrs Mattingly, at which he had not even been present.
Later that year, when Pope Leo XII
restored the Gregorian University to the direction of the Society of Jesus, Father Kohlmann was summoned to Rome to take the chair of theology, which he filled for five years. One of his pupils then was the subsequent Pope Leo XIII
; another became later Archbishop of Dublin, and the first Irish cardinal (Paul Cullen). Leo XII and Gregory XVI both held Father Kohlmann in high esteem, and had him attached as consultor to the staffs of the College of Cardinals
and several of the important Congregations, including that of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, of Bishops and Regulars, and of the Inquisition.
The last part of his life he spent as a confessor in the church of the Gesù
at Rome
, where during the Lenten season of 1836 he overtaxed himself and brought on an attack of pneumonia that ended his career.
Confessional Privilege (United States)
In United States law, confessional privilege is a rule of evidence that forbids the inquiry into the content or even existence of certain communications between clergy and communicants....
in United States law. He spent nearly a quarter of a century in the USA as an educator.
Life
Kohlmann was born at Kaisersberg, AlsaceAlsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
. At an early age he was compelled by the troubles of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
to go to live in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, where at the college of Fribourg
Fribourg
Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
he completed his theological studies and was ordained priest. Soon after, in 1796, he joined the Congregation of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart. With them he spent two years in Austria and Italy as a military chaplain
Military chaplain
A military chaplain is a chaplain who ministers to soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and other members of the military. In many countries, chaplains also minister to the family members of military personnel, to civilian noncombatants working for military organizations and to civilians within the...
. From Italy he was sent to Dillingen in Bavaria, as director of an ecclesiastical seminary, then to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and next to Amsterdam to direct a college established by the Fathers of the Faith of Jesus, with whom the Congregation of the Sacred Heart had united (11 April 1799).
The Society of Jesus in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
having been recognized (1801) by Pope Pius VII
Pope Pius VII
Pope Pius VII , born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti, was a monk, theologian and bishop, who reigned as Pope from 14 March 1800 to 20 August 1823.-Early life:...
, Father Kohlmann joined it and entered the novitiate at Dunébourg on 21 June 1803. A year later, in response to a call for additional workers in the United States, he was sent to Georgetown, D.C., where he was made assistant to the master of novices, and went on missionary tours to the several German congregations in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
.
Affairs in the Catholic Church in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
having gone badly, Bishop Carroll picked him out as the person best qualified to introduce the needed reforms and to restore order, and with his fellow Jesuits, Benedict Fenwick and four scholastics, James Wallace, Michael White, James Redmond, and Adam Marshall, he took charge there in October, 1808. It was a time of great commercial depression in the city owing to the results of the Embargo Act of 22 December 1807. The Catholic population, he states in a letter written on 8 November 1808, consisted "of Irish, some hundreds of French and as many Germans; in all according to the common estimation of 14,000 souls". Such progress was made under his direction that the cornerstone of a new church, old St. Patrick's Cathedral
St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, New York
The Basilica of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral, or Old St. Patrick's, is located at 260-264 Mulberry Street between Prince and Houston Streets in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, with the primary entrance currently located on Mott Street...
, the second church erected in New York City, was laid on 8 June 1809. He started a classical school called the New York Literary Institution, which he carried on successfully for several years in what was then a suburban village but is now the site of St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. In April, 1812, he also started a school for girls in the same neighbourhood, in charge of Ursuline nuns who came at his instance for that purpose from their convent in County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
About the same time Father Kohlmann became the central figure in a lawsuit that excited national interest. He had been instrumental in having stolen goods restored to a man, who demanded in court that the priest should reveal from whom he had received them. Father Kohlmann refused to do this, on the ground that his information had been received under the seal of confession. The case was taken before the Court of General Sessions, where after a trial the decision rendered by De Witt Clinton was given in his favour. Its principle was later embodied in the State law passed on 10 December 1828, which enacted that
- "No minister of the Gospel or priest of any denomination whatsoever shall be allowed to disclose any confession made to him in his professional character in the course of discipline enjoined by the rules or practices of such denomination."
To a report of the case when published Father Kohlmann added an exposition of the teachings of the Church on penance
Penance
Penance is repentance of sins as well as the proper name of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Anglican Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession. It also plays a part in non-sacramental confession among Lutherans and other Protestants...
. (Sampson, "The Catholic Question in America", appendix, New York, 1813.) The book excited a long and vigorous controversy with a number of Protestant ministers, and was followed in 1821 by another learned work, "Unitarianism, Theologically and Philosophically considered", in which Father Kohlmann replied to the assertions of Jared Sparks
Jared Sparks
Jared Sparks was an American historian, educator, and Unitarian minister. He served as President of Harvard University from 1849 to 1853.-Biography:...
and other Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
leaders.
New York had no bishop as yet, the first appointed having died in Italy before he reached his see, and Father Kohlmann governed as administrator for several years. In 1815, expecting the early arrival of the second bishop (Connolly), he returned to the college of his order at Georgetown, D. C., as master of novices, and in 1817 became superior. He served as the President of Georgetown College
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
from 1817-1820.
In 1821 he founded the Washington Seminary, which later became Gonzaga College High School.
Shortly afterwards Kohlmann became interested in the work of Prince Alexander von Hohenlohe, a charismatic German priest and nobleman who claimed to be able to effect miracle cures. Hohenlohe was supposed, in particular, to have saved the life of a German princess, Mathilda von Schwarzenburg, when he and a peasant associate prayed over her. The case was much publicized, and, although the Catholic authorities in Europe never endorsed Hohenlohe’s cures, many, including Fr Kohlmann, believed in them.
In 1824 he learned that a prominent Washington Catholic, Mrs Ann Mattingly, was suffering from cancer, and decided to contact Hohenlohe in an effort to cure her. He wrote to the princely miracle-worker in Bamberg, Germany, and got him to agree to pray for Mrs Mattingly at a certain precise time several months later. In Washington he arranged for one of his Jesuit colleagues to say mass by her bedside at the chosen hour, while he celebrated yet another mass in the Georgetown University chapel.
These trans-Atlantic negotiations took some time, and meanwhile Mrs Mattingly’s condition worsened. Her brother, the mayor of Washington, protested to Kohlmann that she would be dead before the prayer session could occur, but Kohlmann told him not to worry, that the splendour of the miracle would be all the greater for occurring at the very last minute.
At the appointed time, the three priests said their masses in different places and soon afterwards Mrs Mattingly was healed. She arose from her bed, proclaimed herself entirely cured and went on to live in good health for another thirty years.
The story of her cure attracted great interest in the press. To some Catholics it was proof of the power of prayer and of the superiority of their religion, while to Protestants and “free thinkers”, it smacked of medieval superstition and priestly chicanery. The Catholic hierarchy stood aloof from the conflict: None of Hohenlohe’s “miracles” was ever endorsed by the Church, and certainly not the cure of Mrs Mattingly, at which he had not even been present.
Later that year, when Pope Leo XII
Pope Leo XII
Pope Leo XII , born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiore Girolamo Nicola Sermattei della Genga, was Pope from 1823 to 1829.-Life:...
restored the Gregorian University to the direction of the Society of Jesus, Father Kohlmann was summoned to Rome to take the chair of theology, which he filled for five years. One of his pupils then was the subsequent Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
; another became later Archbishop of Dublin, and the first Irish cardinal (Paul Cullen). Leo XII and Gregory XVI both held Father Kohlmann in high esteem, and had him attached as consultor to the staffs of the College of Cardinals
College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church.A function of the college is to advise the pope about church matters when he summons them to an ordinary consistory. It also convenes on the death or abdication of a pope as a papal conclave to elect a successor...
and several of the important Congregations, including that of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, of Bishops and Regulars, and of the Inquisition.
The last part of his life he spent as a confessor in the church of the Gesù
Church of the Gesu
The Church of the Gesù is the mother church of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order also known as the Jesuits. Officially named , its facade is "the first truly baroque façade", introducing the baroque style into architecture ,. The church served as model for innumerable Jesuit...
at Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, where during the Lenten season of 1836 he overtaxed himself and brought on an attack of pneumonia that ended his career.