Aloys, 7th Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg

Aloys, Prince of Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg ( born September 15, 1871 in Klein Heubach ( Lower Franconia ); † January 25, 1952 in Bronnbach ) was President of the Central Committee of German Catholics.

Descent

The noble family of those Lowenstein goes back to the Wittelsbach Frederick I, the victorious, Elector of the Palatinate (1425-1476) and his son Ludwig. Aloys comes from the marriage of Karl zu Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg (1834-1921) and his second wife Sophie of Liechtenstein (1837-1899), a daughter of Alois II of Liechtenstein. He was the elder of two brothers.

Life

After his high school years at the Jesuit College in Feldkirch, he studied law in Prague (1889 ) and Fribourg in Switzerland ( since 1890, 1895 Dr. iur. Utr. )

Familiar from his youth with his father's commitment to the Catholic lay movement, took Prince Aloys after his student days and a trip to England, first to its role as contemporary in four states wealthy nobleman tasks and has been member of the First chambers in England ( 1895), Hesse -Darmstadt (1897 ), Bavaria (1909 ) and Baden (1910). 1908, nor his father's lifetime, Aloys took the title of Prince and all related rights and obligations of an able master.

In 1907 he was elected as a Member of the Center for the electoral district of Trier I in the Reichstag, where he remained until the end of the monarchy. In this function, and the position of the Imperial Council of the Crown Bavaria effective mainly, he saw it as a service to the state, to be made by the defense of the Catholic Church and its goals. The Parliamentary him was rather strange. A diplomatic career that would have been open to him because of his educational background and belonging to the European aristocracy, he went any further.

Although he is equal to 1914, as a volunteer available, he tried moderating in the war aim Discussion intervene, after he criticized the German foreign policy than does oriented before 1914. Since 1898, when he had turned to Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg of the Catholic lay movement in the footsteps of his father Prince Charles and served the Catholic in Neisse as Vice President, he was a member of the Central Committee of German Catholics days; the Strasbourg Day 1905 he first conducted themselves, the integration of the Catholics of Alsace-Lorraine promoting in this way to the Reich.

One focus of his interest was in the " mission to the Gentiles ", was built to their revival, the International Institute for scientific research mission in Munster in 1911; whose president was Prince Aloys zu Löwenstein until 1948. To this end, he promoted the creation of magazines. After 1918, his effort was the collection of Catholicism on a religious basis.

Aloys zu Löwenstein was since 1920 President of the Central Committee of German Catholics. He held the politics of that time from the Catholic laity working out extensively. His patriarchal society understanding corresponded to a coming out of religious conviction lay apostolate among his aristocratic peers.

The power of Adolf Hitler in 1933 made ​​the further work of the Central Committee impossible. At the 1933 planned for Vienna General German Catholic participants were able to attend only restricted from Germany because of disabilities upon exit. For the Gliwice 1934 planned German Catholic Hermann Goering demanded as Prussian Prime Minister an oath of allegiance to the Third Reich, the Aloys refused to Lion's Arch and also the Catholic canceled. Only in 1948 was reunited with Lowenstein's line, held a Catholic, the last under Aloys. He handed over the presidency to his son, Karl Friedrich.

Family

Aloys zu Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg married on September 27, 1898 Josephine Kinsky, Countess of Wchinitz and Tettau ( 1874-1946 ). The marriage produced nine children were born:

• Marie Sophie of Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg (1900-1982)
• Marie Agnes zu Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg (1902-1991)
• Karl of Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg (1904-1990)
• Monika Maria of Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg (1905-1992)
• Felix zu Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg (1907-1986)
• Maria Theresa of Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg (1909-2000)
• Franz zu Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg (1909-1990)
• Maria Anna of Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg (1914-2000)
• Johannes zu Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg (1919-2000)