Juan Everardo Nithard
Johann Eberhard Graf Neidhardt ( and there are also spellings Neidarth, Neüthardt, Neidthardt, Nidhard and Neidhardt, he called himself preferably Nidhard ) ( born December 8, 1607 Castle Falkenstein (Upper Austria ); † February 1, 1681 in Rome) was a Jesuit and as an advisor of Queen Maria Anna of Spain temporarily essentially responsible for the Spanish policy. Later he became a cardinal in Rome.
Life and work
Graf Neidhardt occurred in 1631 when the Jesuits in Vienna and was ordained a priest at an unknown date. He later taught in Graz philosophy, ethics and church law. In 1644 he was summoned by the Emperor Ferdinand to Vienna, where he worked as a court chaplain at the imperial court. He was also a teacher and confessor of the Archduchess Maria Anna. Graf Neidhardt accompanied the 1649 to Spain, where King Philip IV married Maria Anna. After his death in 1665 the Queen Regent was not yet of age for Charles II. Maria Anna was supported by a Council of State, which also Neidhardt belonged to a leading position. Among other things, he had held the office of Grand Inquisitor and the State Registrar. In ecclesiastical terms, he was among those who supported the Queen and the Pope Alexander VII is to enforce the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. On this theme, Neidhardt also released a font. Counter the growing influence of non- Spaniard began to stir criticism among the nobility. Also because Neidhardt had previously taken care of over the years for excluding the illegitimate son of Philip Juan José de Austria of political participation, this also began to join the critics. Neidhardt was no longer tenable by the Queen and was forced to leave Spain in 1669.
He went to Rome, where he was envoy extraordinary titled first a bishop of Agrigento and later a Titularerzbischofs of Edessa. In 1672 he was commissioned by Pope Clement X to the rank of cardinal. On August 8, 1672 he received the titular church of San Bartolomeo all'Isola and was on September 25, 1679, Cardinal Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. He died on February 1, 1681 and was buried in the church of Jesus in Rome.