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Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst
Category: Healer
Prince Alexander Leopold Franz Emmerich of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (17 August 1794 – 17 November 1849) was a German priest, the titular Bishop of Sardica, and a healer.
Alexander was the author of four volumes of sermons and ascetical treatises most of which were collected and published by S. Brunner (Ratisbon, 1851). He was well known as an accomplished preacher.
He steered a somewhat precarious course within the Catholic Church and frequently found himself having to defend himself against the accusations of the theologians. While in Rome, for example, he entered the society of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart. Subsequently, in Munich and Bamberg, he was blamed for ‘Jesuit and Obscurantist’ tendencies.
After he started his mission as a healer, he asked the Pope whether he was permitted to attempt similar cures in the future; he was told not to attempt any more public cures, so he continued them in private. He would specify a time during which he would pray for those that applied to him, and in this manner “he effected numerous cures not only on the Continent, but also in England, Ireland, and the United States”.
Early life
Alexander was born at Kupferzell, near Waldenburg, and was a son of Charles Albert II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (1742-1796) and his second wife, Baroness Judith Reviczky of Revisnye (from 1753 to 1836), the daughter of a Hungarian nobleman.
Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Volume 7 - Alexander Leopold Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst by Michael Ott
He studied the humanities at the Theresianum in Vienna, 1804-8, and at Berne, 1808-10; philosophy at Vienna, 1810-12; theology at Tyrnau in Hungary, 1812-14, and at Ellwangen, 1814-15.
On 16 September, 1815, he was ordained a priest and at once devoted himself to the care of souls first at Stuttgart, then at Munich.
In October, 1816, he went to Rome where he had little difficulty in justifying himself against the accusations of having administered the sacraments in the German language and of belonging to the Bible Society.
On his return he made a pilgrimage to Loreto, and again arrived at Munich on 23 March, 1817. On 8 June of the same year he was made ecclesiastical councillor, and, in 1821, canon of Bamberg.
His life as a healer
Prince Alexander was essentially a faith healer and a most successful one.
Illustrations Of The Influence Of The Mind Upon The Body In Health And Disease, Designed To Elucidate The Action Of The Imagination - Daniel Hack Tuke, M.D., M.R.C.P.,
Those who have visited the continental churches will remember the large number of crutches, sticks, splints, &c., which have been left there by those who have (there is no reason to doubt) been cured or relieved of contracted joints, rheumatism, and palsy, by prayers offered up to some saint, or by the supposed efficacy of their relics. …….
So with the cures performed by Prince Hohenlohe.
His name and titles had probably much to do with his influence. They were Alexander Leopold Franz Emmerich, Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfurst, Archbishop and Grand Provost of Grosswardein, Hungary, and Abbot of St. Michael's, at Gaborjan. … he officiated as Priest at Olmiitz, Munich, &c.
When still only 26, he met with a peasant - Martin Michel - who had performed several astonishing cures and from him ‘caught the enthusiasm which he subsequently manifested in healing the sick’.
But it was on 1 February, 1821, when he himself was suddenly cured at Hassfurt of a severe pain in the throat, in consequence of the prayers of Martin Michel, that he decided this was his calling. He constantly appealed to the people’s faith in his power, the power of prayer and that of God, to effect his cures.
Alexander's first cure was effected, in conjunction with Martin Michel, on 21 June, 1821, when he succeeded in curing, by prayer, the Princess Mathilda von Schwarzenberg, who had been a paralytic for eight years. As a consequence of his success, he ended up effecting cures all over the world - remotely...
Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Volume 7 - Alexander Leopold Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst by Michael Ott
Worthy of mention is the case of Mrs. Ann Mattingly of Washington, D. C., who was said to have been cured of a tumour through his prayers on 10 March, 1824. Rome did not pass judgment on these supposed miracles and Catholics were divided in their opinion. In 1824 Hohenlohe became canon, in 1829 provost, and later Vicar-General and Administrator of Grosswardein. In 1844 he was made chorepiscopus and titular Bishop of Sardica.
Alexander died 14 November, 1849, at Vöslau near Vienna. His method of curing the sick was continued after his death by his friend and disciple Joseph Forster, pastor of Hüttenheim, who died in 1875.
Observations
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