Archbishop Frederick X. Katzer, Milwaukee (1844-1903)

Katzer, Frederick Xavier, third Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese ofGreen Bayand first Archbishop of Milwaukee, was born at Ebensee,Austria, Feb. 7, 1844, son of Charles and Barbara (Reinhartsgruber) Katzer. After attending school atGruündin,Austria, to which place his parents had removed, he began his classical studies in 1857 at theJesuitCollege,Linz,Austria. He was graduated there in 1864, and coming toAmericain May of the same year, studied theology at the Seminary of St. Francis de Sales, nearMilwaukee,Wis., where he completed his studies and was ordained a priest, Dec. 21, 1866. He remained at St. Francis as professor of mathematics, dogmatic theology, and philosophy until July 1875, when he accepted the position of secretary to Bishop Krautbauer, ofGreen Bay,Wis.He was at that time rector of the cathedral, in 1879, becoming vicar-general of the diocese. Upon the death of Bishop Krautbauer, Dec. 17, 1885, he became administrator, and was nominated bishop ofGreen Bay, May 31, 1886, receiving the Episcopal consecration on Sept. 21, 1886. On Jan. 30, 1891, he was transferred toMilwaukeeand raised to the archiepiscopal dignity. Archbishop Katzer was distinguished in the co-called German movement in the Catholic Church and as a determined upholder of Catholic parochial schools and education. The archdiocese under his jurisdiction in 1902 contained 317 churches, 36 chapels, 4 seminaries, 6 schools for the higher education of boys, 7 academies for young ladies, 144 parochial schools, various asylums and hospitals, and had a Catholic population of about 245,000 and 312 priests. He died atFond du Lac,Wis., July 20, 1903.

The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (Vol. XII) (New York: James T. White & Company, 1904), 412-413.