Career
He followed for some time the cooper"s trade. After a course of studies under of a distinguished ecclesiastic, Doctor Joseph Hirschel, he entered the seminary at Mainz. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1855, exercised for some time the ministry, and made a postgraduate course at Munich under Ignaz von Döllinger, and at Rome.
In 1867 he was appointed to the chair of ecclesiastical history in the seminary of Mainz.
He continued to teach until his elevation to the episcopate, with the exception of the years from 1878 to 1887, when seminary was closed by the order of the Government due to the Kulturkampf. In 1889 he became a canon of Mainz Cathedral.
He received also several positions of trust in the administration of the diocese. In 1899 he was chosen Bishop of Mainz.
