Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger (; 28 February 179914 January 1890), also Doellinger in English, was a German theologian, Catholic priest and church historian who rejected the dogma of papal infallibility. Among his writings which proved controversial, his criticism of the papacy antagonized ultramontanes, yet his reverence for tradition annoyed the liberals.
He is considered an important contributor to the doctrine, growth and development of the Old Catholic Church, though he himself never joined that denomination.
Early life
Born at Bamberg, Bavaria, Döllinger came from an intellectual family, his grandfather and father having both been eminent physicians and professors of medical science; his mother's family were equally accomplished. Döllinger was first educated in the gymnasium at Würzburg, where he learned Italian. A Benedictine monk taught him English privately. He began to study philosophy at the University of Würzburg, where his father held a professorship. In 1817, he added philology, and, in 1818, turned to theology. He learned Spanish at the university. He particularly devoted himself to church history. In 1820, he became acquainted with Victor Aimé Huber (1800–1869), who was to influence him greatly. and in November, was appointed chaplain at Markscheinfeldt in Middle Franconia. In 1823 he became professor of church history and canon law in the lyceum at Aschaffenburg. He then took his doctoral degree, and in 1826 became professor of theology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich), where he spent the rest of his life. About this time he brought upon himself the criticism of Heinrich Heine, who was then editor of a Munich paper. The unsparing satirist described the professor's face as the "gloomiest" in the whole procession of clerics on Good Friday.
In 1836, Döllinger made his first visit to England, and met a number of leading English intellectuals, including John Henry Newman and William Gladstone, with whom he maintained lifelong contact. For many years, a number of young Englishmen boarded with him in Munich; among them was Lord Acton. Acton had been denied entry to the University of Cambridge because he was a Catholic, and subsequently went to Munich where he studied at the LMU. They became lifelong friends. Döllinger inspired in him a deep love of historical research and its function as a critical instrument.
In 1837, he was made member extraordinary of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, in 1843 as a regular member, and, from 1860, he was secretary of its historical section. In 1845, Döllinger was made representative of his university in the second chamber of the Bavarian legislature. In 1839, the king had given him a canonry in the royal chapel of St. Cajetan in Munich. On 1 January 1847, he was made mitred provost of that body of canons. However, that same year he was dismissed from his chair, in punishment of his protest as representative of the university on the Bavarian Landtag, to which he had been appointed in 1844, against the dismissal of several university professors.
In 1849, Döllinger was offered the chair of church history. In 1848, when nearly every throne in Europe was shaken by the spread of revolutionary sentiments, he was elected delegate to the national German assembly at Frankfurt. He spoke boldly in favour of freedom for the church to manage her affairs without state interference. In 1857, Döllinger and Acton traveled to Rome, where they were both disenchanted with Pius IX's papacy. Döllinger was troubled that the Pope was the head of state of the Papal States. In some speeches at Munich in 1861, he declared his view that the Roman Catholic Church did not need a temporal sovereign. His book on The Church and the Churches (Munich, 1861) dealt to a certain extent with the same question. In 1863, he invited 100 theologians to meet at Mechelen and discuss the question which the liberals Lamennais and Lacordaire had raised in France, namely, the attitude that should be assumed by the Roman Catholic Church towards modern ideas. In his address, “On the Past and Future of Catholic Theology,” Döllinger advocated for greater academic freedom. This favorable reference to the vigorous 'spirit' of Judaism runs counter to common critiques of the religion by 19th century theologians.
Liberalism
Early in his professorial career at Munich, Jesuits criticized his manner of teaching of church history. But Adam Möhler defended Döllinger, and they later became friends. Döllinger was in touch with the well-known French Liberal Catholic Lamennais, whose views on the reconciliation of the Roman Catholic Church with the principles of modern society (liberalism) and the French Revolution had aroused much suspicion in Ultramontane circles, which were close to Jesuit. In 1832, Lammenais and his friends Lacordaire and Montalembert, visited Germany, obtaining considerable sympathy in their attempts to bring about a modification of the Roman Catholic attitude to modern problems and liberal political principles.
Papal authority
Döllinger's stance on the papacy changed in the course of his life. Ultimately, he energetically opposed any addition to, or more stringent definition of, the powers of the pope. He spoke about his convictions, among other places, at a Catholic congress at Mechelen. Pius IX ordered the assembly closed after four days of debate. In response to Döllinger and others, Pius IX issued the famous Syllabus Errorum in 1864, harshly criticizing liberalism and scientism.
Vatican Council and the Munich conference
right|thumb|Portrait of Döllinger, by [[Franz von Lenbach, 1892.]]
Leading Catholic theologians advised Pius IX to declare Papal infallibility a dogma. There was not, however, universal consensus on the subject. Some bishops, while not opposed, considered its promulgation to be inopportune. The headquarters of the opposition was Germany, and its leader was Döllinger. Among his supporters were his close friends Johann Friedrich and J. N. Huber, in Bavaria. In the rest of Germany, Döllinger was supported by theology professors at Bonn, including the canonist Johann Friedrich von Schulte, Franz Heinrich Reusch, Joseph Langen, Joseph Hubert Reinkens, and other distinguished scholars. In Switzerland, Eduard Herzog and others supported the movement.
Early in 1869, Döllinger's Letters of Janus (written in conjunction with Huber and Friedrich) began to appear. They were at once translated into English. They disparaged the Syllabus and its incompatibility with modern thought. They argued that the concept of papal infallibility was intellectually indefensible, although their interpretation differed from what conservatives had proposed.