Sebastian von Heusenstamm

The Most Reverend Sebastian of Heusenstamm
Archbishop-Elector of Mainz
Church	Roman Catholic
Archdiocese	Electorate of Mainz
In office	1545–1555
Predecessor	Albert of Mainz
Successor	Daniel Brendel von Homburg
Orders
Ordination	6 October 1531
Consecration	2 May 1546 by Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt
Personal details
Born	(1508-03-16)16 March 1508 Frankfurt
Died	18 March 1555(1555-03-18) (aged 47) Eltville
Buried	Mainz Cathedral

Memorial to Sebastian in Mainz Cathedral.

Sebastian of Heusenstamm (German: Sebastian von Heusenstamm) (16 March 1508 – 18 March 1555) was the Archbishop-Elector of Mainz from 1545 to 1555.

Biography

Sebastian of Heusenstamm was born in Frankfurt on March 16, 1508. He was ordained as a priest in Mainz on October 6, 1531.

Following the death of Albert of Mainz, the cathedral chapter of Mainz Cathedral elected Sebastian to be the new Archbishop of Mainz on October 20, 1545. Pope Paul III confirmed his appointment on January 27, 1546, and he was consecrated as a bishop by Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt, Bishop of Würzburg, on May 2, 1546.

The practice of canonical visitation had been re-established by the Council of Trent, so Sebastian conducted a visitation of the Archbishopric of Mainz, aimed at rooting out Protestant tendencies in the archbishopric. This visitation was largely carried out by Sebastian's auxiliary bishop, Michael Helding (later Bishop of Merseburg). Sebastian held a provincial synod on November 19, 1548 to launch the Counter-Reformation in Mainz. In 1551, along with John of Isenburg-Grenzau, Archbishop of Trier, he attended the Council of Trent, but the archbishops rushed home with the outbreak of the Second Margrave War in 1552.

During the Second Margrave War, troops of Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach attacked Mainz in 1552, devastating the city. This convinced Sebastian that Charles V, Holy Roman Empire was unable to protect the ecclesiastical territories from the secular states surrounding them. He thus became a supporter of the principle of cuius regio, eius religio, although he died before the Peace of Augsburg was signed.

Sebastian died in Eltville on March 18, 1555. He is buried in Mainz Cathedral.

References

• This page is based on this page on German Wikipedia.
• Profile from catholic-hierarchy.org
• Andreas Ludwig Beit, Kirche und Kirchenreform in der Erzdiöceze Mainz im Zeitalter der Glaubensspältung und der beginnenden tridentinischen Reformation 1517-1618