Johann Franz von Schönau-Zell

Johann Franz von Schönau ( born July 15, 1619 Ensisheim, † November 30, 1656 in Pruntrut ) was, from 1653, for three years, Prince-Bishop of Basel.

Life

Johann Franz von Schönau was born in 1619 in front of the Austrian provincial capital Ensisheim the son of Marx Jakob von Schönau and Margaretha von Reinach. He spent his childhood in Waldshut on the Upper Rhine, where his father had taken over the post of forest reeve and Schultheissen governor. Johann Franz was determined as the younger son of the clergy. After studying Catholic theology in Pruntrut, Freiburg and Lucerne and at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome was appointed Domdekan of Eichstätt Johann Franz von Schönau in 1639. 1640/1641 followed the appointment as Domdekan and canon and provost from 1649 to Basel. The ordination took place only 1648th Basel 1529 had introduced the Reformation. The Catholic worship was forbidden. The Prince-Bishop William Rink of Baldenstein already in 1527 moved the official seat of the prince-bishop after Pruntrut while the cathedral chapter in the Roman Catholic Freiburg im Breisgau found his exile, before it moved to Arlesheim 1679 beneath the castle Birseck. Johann Franz von Schönau therefore performed his offices in Freiburg im Breisgau. 1651, he was elected prince-bishop of Basel. As one of the first acts after the consecration of 1653 Johann Franz von Schönau moved the residence of the prince-bishops of Basel after Pruntrut. 1654 he reactivated the prostrate by the Thirty Years' War iron mining by establishing a foundry in Reuchenette. Defense policy, he sought proximity to the seven Catholic places of Confederation with whom he mid- 1655 concluded an alliance that was directed against France. Johann Franz von Schönau, who stood in the cardinal rank prior to the survey, passed away in 1656 after a short tenure in Pruntrut where his body was buried in the Jesuit Church. The testamentary disposal Heart burial in a leaden capsule was carried out in the Capuchin church in Waldshut. The local Epitaph and the heart capsule were in 1825 transferred to the cemetery chapel nearby.