Princess Anna of Prussia
Anna Marie Friederike of Prussia ( born May 17, 1836 in Berlin, † June 12, 1918 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a Prussian princess and known a convert to the Catholic Church.
Life
Wife and Princess
Princess Anna was the youngest daughter of Prince Carl of Prussia and Princess Marie of Saxe- Weimar -Eisenach, sister of Empress Augusta, wife of William I.
The girl grew up primarily on Glienicke in Berlin- Wannsee and was the Prussian field provost Ludwig August Bollert (1833-1860) taught in the Protestant religious doctrine.
On May 26, 1853 married Princess Anna of Prussia in Charlottenburg Prince Frederick William of Hesse -Kassel, son of the Landgrave William of Hesse -Kassel- Rumpenheim and the Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark. He was regarded as presumptive heir to the throne in the Electorate of Hesse. 1866 Electoral Hesse was annexed by Prussia, after which the last Elector Friedrich Wilhelm I, the uncle of Princess Anna's husband, went into exile.
1873 renounced the nephew Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse- Kassel in the way of a compensation contract to all government rights and was granted it a high severance of Prussia, which he and Princess Anne were forced to live while maintaining their princely house stand as individuals.
The family resided alternately in Denmark, in the Kassel Schloss Wilhelm height, in Weimar, Berlin, on Panker in Holstein, as well as on the Rumpenheimer castle. 1875 began Landgrave Friedrich Wilhelm the expansion of Philippsruhe castle near Hanau to his retirement home, in the couple moved in 1880. Anna of Prussia, or Countess Anna, as she was called, entertained there a circle with renowned artists of their time, including Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann, Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein, Julius Stockhausen, Niels Wilhelm Gade and Johann Peter Emilius Hartmann.
Widow who had converted
Princess Anna suffered successively numerous calamities that a more specific focus on religious matters elicited with her. Died in 1882, the 10 - year-old daughter Marie Polyxene to osteomyelitis, 1884 her husband died of a severe stomach illness, in 1886 she lost her young son Prince Leopold of Anhalt; her eldest son, Friedrich Wilhelm came in 1888 on a sea voyage to death.
The countess was in 1866, during a stay in Mainz, Bishop Wilhelm Emmanuel there met von Ketteler, who impressed them with her aroused a strong and abiding interest in the Catholic Church. Now she often stayed at Castle Adolphseck at Fulda, in a predominantly Catholic area. The princess developed over the years an ever -increasing affinity to the Catholic religion, and finally declared after detailed instruction by Professor Viktor Thielemann (1867-1944), on October 10, 1901 officially changed its conversion to the Catholic Church. At the official ceremony in the chapel of Fulda Seminary participated whose husband, Prince Charles II to Isenburg and Budingen, even a next to the local bishop Adalbert Endertplatz and his successor Joseph Damian Schmitt also later Bishop of Meissen Christian Schreiber and Archduchess Maria Louise of Austria was a convert.
Already on August 7, 1901 it had a body gendarme the hand writing Kaiser Wilhelm II delivered, in which he, because of their impending change of faith from the family launched as head of the House of Hohenzollern. However in 1918, shortly before the death of Princess Anna, he visited her once in person, regretted his actions and reconciled with her.
In April 1902, the Duchess traveled to Rome, where she Pope Leo XIII. received in a private audience. On this occasion, she also met the then Under-Secretary Giacomo della Chiesa, the future Benedict XV. , Personally.
1905 could be Anna of Hesse record as a member of the Third Order of the Franciscans, in its nurse's uniform they buried later at their request.
She died on 12 June 1918 in Frankfurt am Main; where she spent her final years. The donated by her St. Anthony's Church, their daily stay place for prayer and Mass, when we bahrte on 17 June and the Limburg Bishop Augustine Kilian held her there a Pontifikalrequiem in the presence of many princes, including Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. Pope Benedict XV. had the dying man his personal blessing donated and can bring greetings.
" Hic IACET Serenissima Landgrafia Hassiae ANNA Principissa Borussiae nata Berolini the 17 maii 1836 obiit Francofurti the 12th Junii 1918 Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo RIP "
At her death, Anna of Prussia was the oldest member of the family of the Princely House of Hohenzollern.
Progeny
Countess Anna and her husband, Frederick William of Hesse- Kassel (1820-1884) had six children, of whom the son of Frederick Charles, was elected in 1918 to the King of Finland. The children were:
- Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl (1854-1888)
- Elisabeth Charlotte Alexandra (1861-1955) ∞ 1884 Hereditary Prince Leopold of Anhalt ( 1855-1886 )
- Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm Albrecht (1863-1945)
- Friedrich Karl Ludwig Konstantin (1868-1940), 1918 nominally King of Finland
- Marie Polyxene (1872-1882)
- Sibylle Margaretha (1877-1953) ∞ 1898-1923 Friedrich Freiherr von Vincke (1867-1925)