Johann Friedrich von Schulte

Who was Johann Friedrich von Schulte?

Johann Friedrich von Schulte was a German legal historian and professor of canon law who was born in Winterberg, Westphalia. He was a leading authority on Catholic canon law.

In 1854 he became a lecturer at the University of Bonn, and during the following year was appointed professor of German legal history and canon law at the University of Prague. In 1873 he returned to Bonn, where he was a professor of canon law until 1906. In 1881-82 he was rector at the university.

Schulte opposed the First Vatican Council, and was architect of the basic templates regarding church law for organization of the German Old Catholic Church. He was also author of the Synodal- und Gemeindeordnung of 1874, the fundamental law of the Old Catholic Church in Germany. From 1871 to 1890 he was president of the Old Catholic Congress.

From 1874 to 1879 he was a member of the German Reichstag. He died in Obermais near Meran on December 19, 1914, at the age of 87.