Clement August Von Droste-vischering

1773-1845. Archbishop of Cologne. Ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1798, he became curate to the chapter of Münster and auxiliary bishop of Münster in 1827. When Von Spiegel died in 1835, he was elected archbishop of Cologne at the suggestion of the Prussian government. Soon he came into conflict with the government by refusing to sanction the teachings of the Bonn professor George Hermes, which had been condemned by Gregory XVI in 1835. When he further refused to approve the Prussian policy on mixed marriages between Protestants and Catholics he was imprisoned by Frederick William III in the fortress of Minden in 1837. J.J. Von Görres* wrote his Athanasius (1838) in defense of Droste-Vischering, and the archbishop was restored to his former honor, but the government of the diocese was left to a coadjutor more favorable to the Crown. Among his writings are über die Religionsfreiheit der Katholiken (1817) and über den Frieden der Kirche und der Staaten (1843).