Melchior Klesl
Cardinal Melchior Khlesl, also Klesl and KLESEL (* February 19, 1552 in Vienna, † September 18, 1630 in Wiener Neustadt ) was Bishop of Vienna and Chancellor of Emperor Matthias.
Life
He was the son of a baker and grew up as a Protestant, but the Jesuit Georg Scherer converted him to Catholicism in 1573. In 1579 he himself was a priest and was shortly afterwards the place of Dompropsts of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna.
Khlesl was one of the main representatives of the Counter-Reformation. Through his influence the college of the university consisted only of Catholics, and every student had to take the Catholic faith. He was also vicar general of the bishop of Passau and led as such purges by the parishes and monasteries of Lower Austria. As chancellor of the Emperor Matthias, he was, however, pragmatically oriented and interested in a compromise with the Protestants on imperial level.
1588 he became Bishop of Wiener Neustadt, Bishop of Vienna in 1598 and he was knighted by Pope Paul V in pectore cardinal on December 2, 1615 which was made public in the consistory on 9 April 1616. He was assigned as the titular church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, in 1623 he joined the titular church of San Silvestro in Capite. To further promote the Counter-Reformation, he promoted the establishment of several orders in Vienna. But his growing power was a thorn in many people, so he was arrested at the instigation of the German master Archdukes Maximilian and Ferdinand, and the Bishop of Brixen on 20 July 1618 and spent the Tyrol. After staying in Ambras Castle and the Innsbruck Hofburg he was transferred in 1619 to St. George Mountain, which meant a transfer from secular jurisdiction in ecclesiastical custody, which was led by the extraordinary papal nuncio Fabrizio Verospi in the way. On October 21, 1622 Khlesl was brought to Rome. 1627, he was able to resume the office of bishop in Vienna again.
He is buried in St. Stephen's Cathedral, his heart, however, was buried in the cathedral of Wiener Neustadt.
Appreciation
The Khleslplatz in Altmann village in the 12th district of Vienna is named after him, because he likes in the farmyard of the Augustinian hermits made on his journeys between Vienna and Wiener Neustadt am today Khleslplatz rest. Also in Wiener Neustadt an alley named after him near Piazza del Duomo.