POHLE, JOSEPH

Professor; b. Niederspay, Germany, March 19, 1852;d. Breslau, Germany, Feb. 21, 1922. After completing his studies at Trier, Germany, he attended the German College in Rome, as well as the Gregorianum. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy in 1874, his S.T.D. in 1879. He was ordained in 1878.

When prevented from accepting an official appointment in Germany by the restrictive laws of the Kulturkampf, he studied at Würzburg, Germany (1879–81), and was influenced by the noted botanist, Julius von Sachs. After teaching secondary school in Baar, Switzerland (1881–83), he became professor of theology and Scripture at St. Joseph's College, Leeds, England (1883–86). When episcopal seminaries were reopened in Germany by Bismarck's partial repeal of the Falk laws, Pohle became professor of philosophy (1886–89) at the seminary in Fulda. There, with Constantin Gutberlet, he served as cofounder and coeditor of the Philosophisches Jahrbuch of the Görres Society.

In 1889, at the request of Bp. John J. Keane, Pohle joined the faculty of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., as professor of apologetics. In the United States his name came to be linked with the German-American party in the Cahensly dispute (see cahensly, peter paul). This may have prompted his acceptance of an offer to return to Germany in 1894 as professor of dogma at Münster. After transferring to Breslau in 1897, he continued to occupy himself with various scholarly pursuits until his death. Among his works were Angelo Secchi (1883), Die Sternenwelten und ihre Bewohner (1884), Lehrbuch der Dogmatik (1902–05), and Soldatentod und Martyrertod (1917). He collaborated on several other books and contributed to various learned journals. He also wrote 21 articles for the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Bibliography: p. h. ahern, The Catholic University of America, 1887–1896. The Rectorship of John J. Keane (Washington 1949). j. grummersbach, Lexikon für Theologie und und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 9:578. c. gutberlet, Philosophisches Jahrbuch der Görres-Gesellschaft 35 (1922) 181–184.

[j. f. wippel]