Wilhelm Emmanuel, Baron Von Kettler

[Gratia_Plena]

For what it’s worth, just a interesting bit of history:

Doctrinal Controversies; The Vatican Council.

—Though not professionally a theologian, Ketteler made his influence felt in the various doctrinal controversies of his time. In his “Liberty, Authority, and Church” (1862) he took a stand on the question of Liberalism, and set forth the Christian attitude towards the vari-ous meanings of the word liberty. The theological “school” which Ketteler established in his seminary at Mainz, and whose chief representatives were Moufang and Heinrich, was noted for its adherence to Scholastic theology and its hostility to the anti-Roman tendencies of “Germanism” and “German Science” represented by Dellinger and the Munich School. The former urged with much tenacity the theological seminaries, as preferable to the theological faculties of the universities, for the education of the Catholic clergy, and earnestly strove, since 1862, for the establishment of that free Catholic university in Germany which is yet a desideratum. Despite this firm attitude, Ketteler had great intellectual charity, and could understand theological views that differed somewhat from his own, and when necessary could be their advocate; it was doubtless to him that Kuhn of Tiibingen was indebted for escaping condemnation at Rome.

On the eve of the Vatican Council, Ketteler was not very favorably inclined towards the dogmatic definition of papal infallibility: “In our time it is not opportune to increase the number of dogmas”, he wrote to Bishop Dupanloup. Enemy as he was of political absolutism and centralization, he feared that a declaration of papal infallibility would result in religious absolutism and centralization. He submitted to the episcopal assembly at Fulda (September 1, 1869) a series of observations which he had asked from Francis Brentano, professor at Wurzburg, and in which the definition of papal infallibility was treated as inopportune; at the same time he rough-drafted the letter in which this assembly urged all Christians to submit to the future council. Though belonging to the minority in the council, he protested more than once against the “Roman Letters” of Dollinger, published at Munich under the pseudonym of “Quirinus”. He circulated in the council a pamphlet of the Jesuit Quarella, which in some respects seemed to militate against the doctrine of infallibility, but he did not personally accept all the theories of this work. It was he who suggested the petition of May, 1870, in which a number of bishops demanded that the eleven chapters of the “Schema” on the Church be taken up before entering on the discussion of infallibility. On May 23 he declared in a plenary meeting that he had always believed in papal infallibility, but he asked whether the theological proofs put forward sufficed to justify its dogmatic definition. He was not present at the final vote and left Rome after a written declaration that he submitted beforehand to the decision of the council. In September, 1870, he signed, with other German bishops, the Fulda declaration in favor of the newly defined dogma.

 

[Hlafdige]

In 1869, a German diocesan bishop was sitting together with his guest, Bishop Ketteler from Mainz. During the course of their conversation, the diocesan bishop brought up his guest’s extremely blessed apostolate.* Bishop Ketteler explained to his host, “I owe thanks for everything that I have accomplished with God’s help, to the prayer and sacrifice of someone I do not even know. I can only say that I know somebody has offered his or her whole life to our loving God for me, and I have this sacrifice to thank that I even became a priest.”
He continued, “Originally, I wasn’t planning on becoming a priest. I had already finished my law degree and thought only about finding an important place in the world to begin acquiring honour, prestige and wealth. An extraordinary experience held me back and directed my life down a different path.
“One evening I was alone in my room, considering my future plans of fame and fortune, when something happened which I cannot explain. Was I awake or asleep? Did I really see it or was it just a dream? One thing I do know, it brought about a change in my life. I saw Jesus very clearly and distinctly standing over me in a radiant cloud, showing me his Sacred Heart. A nun was kneeling before him, her hands raised up in prayer. From his mouth, I heard the words, ‘She prays unremittingly for you!’
“I distinctly saw the appearance of the sister, and her traits made such an impression on me that she has remained in my memory to this day. She seemed to be quite an ordinary lay sister. Her clothing was very poor and rough. Her hands were red and calloused from hard work. Whatever it was, a dream or not, it was extraordinary. It shook me to the depths of my being so that from that moment on, I decided to consecrate myself to God in the service of the priesthood.
“I withdrew to a monastery for a retreat, and I talked about everything with my confessor. Then, at the age of 30, I began studying theology. You know the rest of the story. So, if you think that I have done something admirable, now you know who really deserves the credit—a religious sister who prayed for me, maybe without even knowing who I was. I am convinced, I was prayed for and I will continue to be prayed for in secret and that without these prayers, I could never have reached the goal that God has destined for me.”
“Do you have any idea of the whereabouts or the identity of who has prayed for you?” asked the diocesan bishop.
“No, I can only ask God each day that, while she is still on earth, he bless and repay her a thousand-fold for what she has done for me.”
The next day, Bishop Ketteler visited a convent of sisters in a nearby city and celebrated Holy Mass in their chapel. He was distributing Holy Communion to the last row of sisters when one of them suddenly caught his eye. His face grew pale, and he stood there, motionless. Finally regaining his composure, he gave Holy Communion to the sister who was kneeling in recollection unaware of his hesitation. He then concluded the liturgy.

(…)

A little while later, the sister who had been summoned stepped into the room. Again Bishop Ketteler turned pale, and after a few words to all the sisters, he asked if he could be alone with the sister who had just come in.
“Do you know me?” he asked her.
“I have never seen Your Excellency before.”
“Have you ever prayed for me or offered up a good deed for me?” he wanted to know.
“I do not recall that I have ever heard of Your Excellency.”
The Bishop was silent for a few moments and then he asked, “Do you have a particular devotion that you like?”
“The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” was the response.
“You have, it seems, the most difficult task in the convent,” he continued.
“Oh no, Your Excellency” the sister countered, “but I cannot lie, it is unpleasant for me.”
“And what do you do when you have such temptations against your work?”
“For things that cost me greatly, I grew accustomed to facing them with joy and enthusiasm out of love for God, and then I offer them up for one soul on earth. To whom God chooses to be gracious as a result, I have left completely up to him and I do not want to know. I also offer up my time of Eucharistic adoration every evening from 8 to 9 for this intention.”

(…)

“How old are you?” Ketteler asked.
“Thirty-three, Your Excellency,” she answered.
The Bishop paused a moment. Then he asked her, “When were you born?” The sister stated her day of birth. The Bishop gasped; her birthday was the day of his conversion! Back then he saw her exactly as she was before him now. “And have you any idea whether your prayers and sacrifices have been successful?” he asked her further.
“No, Your Excellency.”
“Don’t you want to know?”
“Our dear God knows when something good happens, and that is enough,” was the simple answer.
The Bishop was shaken. “So continue this work in the name of the Lord,” he said. The sister knelt down immediately at his feet and asked for his blessing. The Bishop solemnly raised his hands and said with great emotion, “With the power entrusted to me as a bishop, I bless your soul, I bless your hands and their work, I bless your prayers and sacrifices, your self-renunciation and your obedience. I bless especially your final hour and ask God to assist you with all his consolation.”
“Amen,” the sister answered calmly, then stood up and left.

From the Vatican document “Eucharistic Adoration for the sanctification of priests and Spiritual Maternity”
www2.clerus.org/

 

[Genesis315]

It bears noting that the debate for many (and it seems Von Kettler was one in this “camp”) was not whether the Pope’s magisterium was infallible–this was already a definitively true–but whether this doctrine was revealed by God or rather a logical and necessary consequence of a truth revealed by God. The Church definitivelty teaches both dogma (truths revealed by God) and those “secondary” truths infallibly. The First Vatican Council settled the debate that it was a truth revealed by God.

This document by then Cardinal Ratzinger are very helpful in this regards (there is a specific section on the issue of this thread–papal infallibility–as well as other examples):

ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM