Education
He attended the high-school of his native town of Mannheim, and studied philology at the Universities of Heidelberg, Göttingen, and Breslau (1810-1814).
linguist philologist university professor
He attended the high-school of his native town of Mannheim, and studied philology at the Universities of Heidelberg, Göttingen, and Breslau (1810-1814).
As representative of the university in the Upper Chamber of the Diet of Baden during the years 1831-1835, he advocated a thorough reform of the high-school system of Baden and the establishment of a special board for the supervision and encouragement of the higher studies. The Diet took his suggestion to heart and put Zell on the council to carry the suggestion to completion. In 1848 Zell was elected to the Lower Chamber of the Diet of Baden, in which he was a deputy until 1855.
In 1855 Zell retired from the service of the state, and in 1857 settled at Freiburg.
In the ecclesiastico-political battles in which Archbishop Hermann Bikari became involved with the Government of Baden for its active adherence to the Kulturkampf policy, Zell was the archbishop"s constant adviser and active assistant. A permanent memorial of his labours for the head of the Church is the Saint Michael"s Association for the Archdiocese of Freiburg, which he founded, in order to organize the gifts of the faithful for the Pope (Peter"s pence).
The society still flourishes in the archdiocese.
Through his speeches and writings and without allies Zell defended Church rights. As a speaker at assemblies, in pamphlets and articles for periodicals and newspapers, like the "Freiburger Kirchenblatt" and the "Historisch-Politische Blatter", he constantly defended the rights of the Church, Christian schools, religious orders, and argued against criticisms of the Church.