Johannes von Geissel was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Catholic

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 Archbishop of Cologne and Cardinal

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

.

Life

Gessel was born in Gimmeldingen

Gimmeldingen

Gimmeldingen is a village of 2636 inhabitants and part of the city of Neustadt an der Weinstraße in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.It is a well-known wine-producing region, source of the Gimmeldinger Meerspinne....

 in the Electoral Palatinate.

After completing his classical studies at Neustadt an der Weinstraße

Neustadt an der Weinstraße

Neustadt an der Weinstraße is a town located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With 53,892 inhabitants as of 2002, it is the largest town called Neustadt.-Etymology:...

, and at Edesheim

Edesheim

Edesheim is a municipality in the Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Paul Henri Thiry d’Holbach was born here....

, he was received into the then imperial lycée

Secondary education in France

In France, secondary education is in two stages:* collèges cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14...

 of Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

 in 1813, and studied theology in the diocesan seminary of the same city, under Prof. Bruno Franz Leopold Liebermann

Bruno Franz Leopold Liebermann

Bruno Franz Leopold Liebermann was a German Catholic theologian.-Life:...

, from 1815. He was ordained priest, 22 August 1818. For a short time he became assistant in the parish of Hambach

Hambach

Hambach may refer to:* Hambach, a city in Germany* Hambach Castle, in Germany* Hambacher Fest, a German national democratic festival celebrated from 27 May to 30 May 1832 at Hambach Castle...

.

On 1 February 1819, he was appointed professor at the Gymnasium of Speyer; on 24 June 1822, canon of the cathedral chapter of Speyer

Speyer

Speyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...

; and on 25 May 1836, dean of that body. Nominated Bishop of Speyer

Bishop of Speyer

The Bishop of Speyer is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer, which is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Bamberg.The diocese covers an area of 5,893 km².The current bishop is Karl-Heinz Wiesemann.-List of bishops:-References:...

 by the King of Bavaria

King of Bavaria

King of Bavaria was a title held by the hereditary Wittelsbach rulers of Bavaria in the state known as the Kingdom of Bavaria from 1805 until 1918, when the kingdom was abolished...

, he was preconized by Pope Gregory XVI

Pope Gregory XVI

Pope Gregory XVI , born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, named Mauro as a member of the religious order of the Camaldolese, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846...

, 20 May 1837, and consecrated in Augsburg cathedral the following 13 August.

After the accession to the throne of Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

 of Frederick William IV

Frederick William IV of Prussia

|align=right|Upon his accession, he toned down the reactionary policies enacted by his father, easing press censorship and promising to enact a constitution at some point, but he refused to enact a popular legislative assembly, preferring to work with the aristocracy through "united committees" of...

, the "conflict of Cologne" was to be settled amicably by an agreement between Church and State, to the effect that Archbishop Clemens August von Droste-Vischering

Clemens August von Droste-Vischering

Baron Clemens August von Droste-Vischering, German Clemens August Freiherr von Droste-Vischering was an Archbishop of Cologne.-Biography:...

 would relinquish the personal direction of the archdiocese, which should pass over to a coadjutor with the right of succession. On 24 September 1841, Gregory XVI appointed Geissel coadjutor to the Archbishop of Cologne; and on 4 March 1842, he entered upon the administration of the archdiocese. When Clemens August died (19 October 1845), Geissel succeeded him, and was enthroned as archbishop, 11 January 1846. Finally, Pope Pius IX

Pope Pius IX

Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...

 created him cardinal, 30 September 1850.

Discretion and a sense of justice on the part of the government of Frederick William IV made it possible for the cardinal to regulate and ameliorate the conditions of the archdiocese in harmony with the policy of the State. He ended the dissensions created by the Hermesian School by suspending the refractory Hermesian professors Braun

Braun

Braun is a common surname, originating from the German word for the color brown. The name is the 22nd most common family name in Germany. Many German emigrants to the United States also changed their name to Brown ....

 and Achterfeldt of Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

; and he reorganized the theological faculty of that university by calling in as professors the orthodox Dieringer and Martin. He established two seminaries for boys at Neuss

Neuss

Neuss is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district and owes its prosperity to its location at the crossing of historic and modern trade routes. It is primarily known...

 and Münstereifel. He encouraged popular missions, introduced religious orders and congregations into the archdiocese, instituted the Perpetual Adoration, and stimulated devotion to the Blessed Virgin by celebrating with unusual splendour the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception

Immaculate Conception

The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, according to which the Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain of original sin. It is one of the four dogmata in Roman Catholic Mariology...

.

He convoked the German episcopate to a meeting at Würzburg

Würzburg

Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....

, 1848; in 1860 he held a provincial council at Cologne. Geissel lived long enough to see Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site...

 finally completed and dedicated in October, 1863. He died in Cologne the following year.

Works

During the first two decades of its existence (1821–37) he contributed numerous anonymous essays of either serious or humorously-satirical character on questions and occurrences of the day to the Katholik. His unusual poetical talent is shown by a number of poems, mostly of a religious character, and published partly in that periodical, partly issued singly, as the occasion offered. After his death there appeared a special edition of his "Festgedicht auf die Grundsteinlegung zum Fortbau des Kölner Doms" (Cologne, 1865). However, his most marked effort as a writer is his historical work, "Der Kaiser-Dom zu Speyer. Eine topographisch-historische Monographie" (3 vols., Mainz, 1828); 2nd ed. in one volume, as Vol. IV of his "Schriften und Reden" (Cologne, 1876).

Other writings are in "Schriften und Reden von Johannes Cardinal von Geissel, Erzbischof von Köln, herausgegeben von Karl Theodor Dumont" (Vols. I-III, Cologne, 1869–70); later on vol. IV was added, "Der Kaiserdom zu Speyer", 2nd ed. (1876).

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