Alois Josef hrabě Krakowský z Kolowrat
Portrait of Archbishop Alois
Josef Count Krakowský of Kolowrat,
Archbishopric of Prague

Alois Josef Count Krakowský from Kolowrat, freeborn lord from Újezd, ThDr.

January 21st, 1759 – March 28th, 1833

  • auxiliary bishop of Olomouc (1801–1812)
  • titular bishop of Sarepta (since 1801)
  • 16th bishop of Hradec Králové (1812/15–1830)
  • 24th archbishop of Prague (1830/31–1833)

Born to Count Prokop Krakowský from Kolowrat (1718–1774) and to countess Anna Marketa from Ogilvy (1725–1810).

He first studied at Prague´s St. Wenceslas seminar, where he received minor ordination on April 7th, 1775. He completed his theological studies in Rome, where he was ordained a priest and received his doctorate of theology in 1781. Already in 1775 he was elected non-residential canon of Olomouc. After his return in 1783, he became the provost of St. Maurice in Kroměříž, but he resigned this dignity when he became residential canon of Olomouc. Archbishop Colloredo appointed him the vicar general of the archdiocese and in 1800 also the director of priestly seminary in Olomouc.

On March 1st, 1801 he was appointed titular bishop of Sarepta by Pope Pius VII and destined for the Olomouc Archdiocese. In the same year he was also consecrated by his Metropolitan in St. Wenceslas´s Cathedral. He became the suffragan of the first archbishop of Olomouc, Antonín Theodro Colloredo-Waldsee (1777–1811). The Emperor František the First appointed Bishop Kolowrat the true imperial secret counsel.

On January 6th, 1812, he was appointed by the same monarch the residential bishop of Hradec Králové, which was not confirmed by Pope Pius VII until March 15th, 1815. The enthronement ceremony took place in Cathedral of St. Spirit on August 13th of the same year. As a bishop he decided in 1816 that Czech language and literature lectures at Hradec Králové seminar should be mandatory for all four years of theological studies and to have professorship established for those. In 1830 he contributed to separation of Hradec Králové seminary from Prague´s seminary and it became independent. During his reign in 1824 the episcopal manor held the area of 2672 hectares of land. In 1825 the castle Skály by Police nad Metují was rebuilt in Empire style.

After the death of Archbishop knight Václav Leopold Chlumčanský from Přestavlky and from Chlumčany the Eart Kolowrat was appointed by Emperor František the First his successor on the throne of St. Vojtěch on August 31st, 1830. He took charge of the office on September 5th, 1830, but did not receive the pallium along with papal confirmation from Gregory XVI until February 28th, 1831, so the enthronement took place in St. Vitus Cathedral on April 17th of the same year.

He became the Primate at advanced age when he began to suffer from impaired vision and hearing. Therefore, he managed and directed the Archdiocese primarily through energetic Vicar general František de Paul Pištěk, who has been auxiliary bishop of Prague since 1824. Kolowrat´s short Prague episcopacy was strongly affected by extensive epidemics of cholera, which impacted substantially the whole of Bohemia. At that time a number of monasteries turned into temporary hospitals and the Prague Archbishopric organized effective help and assistance to the affected, especially in 1831.

Duke - Archbishop Kolowrat was still present on March 3rd, 1833 to the consecration of new Auxiliary Bishop František Tippmann, who was consecrated by Bishop of Hradec Králové Karel Boromejský Hanl, but only three weeks later, on March 28th, 1833, he died in Prague. He was buried in crypt in the old archbishop chapel of St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.

Alois Josef hrabě Krakowský z Kolowrat
Alois Josef Count Krakowský from Kolowrat
Alois Josef hrabě Krakowský z Kolowrat
Alois Josef Count Krakowský from Kolowrat
Alois Josef hrabě Krakowský z Kolowrat
Alois Josef Count Krakowský from Kolowrat