Leopold Karl von Kollonitsch

Leopold Karl von Kollonitsch, also: Kollonich, Collonicz, Kollonitz ( born October 26, 1631 Komárom, † 20 January 1707 in Vienna) was a Catholic Archbishop of Gran and cardinal.

Life

Leopold Karl von Kollonitsch was the son of Count Ernst von Kollonitsch, the commander of the fortress of Komárom. He took 1651 as the candidate of the Order of Malta in the defense of Candia ( Crete) against the Turks in 1655 and part in the fighting in the Dardanelles. As a Knight of Malta from 1658 he was prior of the monastic settlements of Upcoming mail mountain and later of Eger in Bohemia.

1659 Emperor Leopold I appointed him to the Lord Chamberlain and proposed him as Bishop of Neutra (now Slovakia). Only then Kollonitsch began to study theology and was ordained a priest in 1668. In 1669 he entered the office of bishop, but refrained for criticizing it in Hungary and in 1670 Bishop of Wiener Neustadt. From 1672 to 1681 he was president of the Hungarian Court Chamber.

Together with Juraj Selepčéni Pohronec ( György Szelepcsény ) he was responsible held during 1673-1674 Special Court of Pressburg for the condemnation and expulsion of Protestants from the current 278 Slovakia.

At the Second Siege of Vienna in 1683, he went to the besieged city, provided the pay of troops and taught in monasteries one emergency hospitals. After the liberation of Vienna on 12 September by the Battle of Vienna, he organized the care of 500 orphans at Castle Mountain Mail, whose parents were killed in the destruction of the suburbs killed. In the following years he founded behind the advancing troops to the east, the first military hospitals. This he enjoyed great popularity in the Viennese population.

In 1685 he became Bishop of Raab in Hungary, 1686 Cardinal, in 1688, he was also still Archbishop of Kalocsa. 1692 appointed him to the Emperor Heads of State and Ministers Conference, in this capacity, he was responsible for the reorganization of the conquered Hungarian territories.

In 1695 he was finally Archbishop of Gran and Primate of Hungary. He was able to gain more than 100,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians for a union with Rome.

Under Kollonitsch the settlement of the Capuchins in Bratislava began. Thus, the foundation stone for the Capuchin convent was laid in 1708 with the adjacent monastery church.

Before the Vienna City Hall is his monument by Vincenz Pilz. In 1862 in Vienna Landstrasse (3rd district) was named the Kolonitzgasse and 1873 the Kolonitzplatz after him.

See also: History of Christianity in Austria, Slovakia in the early modern period