Konrad von Preysing

Johann Konrad Maria Augustin Felix, Graf von Preysing Lichtenegg-Moos (30 August 1880 – 21 December 1950) was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he served as Bishop of Berlin from 1935 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius XII. Early life and ordination Preysing was born at the castle of Kronwinkel, near Landshut, to the nobles Kaspar von Preysing and his wife, Hedwig von Walterskirchen. His brothers, Albert and Joseph, also became priests. Konrad von Preysing attended a Landshut gymnasium before entering the University of Munich in 1898. After studying at the University of Würzburg from 1901 to 1902, he forfeited a diplomatic career for an ecclesiastical one. He then obtained his doctorate in theology in 1913 from the Theological Faculty of Innsbruck, which he had entered in 1908. Preysing was ordained to the priesthood on 29 July 1912. Secretary to the Cardinal Preysing served as private secretary to Cardinal Franziskus von Bettinger, the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, until 1916. As the Cardinal's secretary, he attended the 1914 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XV. Preysing did pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising from 1916 to 1932. He was made a canon of the cathedral chapter on 1 April 1928, and an Honorary Chamberlain of His Holiness on 15 May 1914.