Anthony Kohlmann SJ (born Anton; July 13, 1771 – April 11, 1836) was an Alsatian Catholic priest, missionary, theologian, and Jesuit educator.

He played a decisive role in the early formation of the Archdiocese of New York, where he was the subject of a lawsuit that for the first time recognized the confessional privilege in the United States, and served as the president of Georgetown College from 1817 to 1820.

Kohlmann also founded a school, the New York Literary Institution; established an orphanage; and invited the first Ursuline nuns to the United States.

In 1824, Pope Leo XII named Kohlmann the chair of theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

[5] Shortly after his ordination,[3] he joined the Society of the Sacred Heart,[a] and completed his novitiate period in Göggingen, located in the Holy Roman Empire.

[8] The following year, John Carroll, the Bishop of Baltimore, put out a call for additional Jesuits in the United States,[9] and Kohlmann was sent as a missionary, prior to taking his final vows.

While at Georgetown, he made trips to minister to the people of Alexandria, Virginia, and Baltimore, as well as to German-speaking congregations in rural Pennsylvania.

He also heard confessions from parishioners at Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia because their pastor had not mastered the English language.

[14] Arriving in October 1808, Kohlmann assumed pastoral responsibility for approximately 14,000 Catholics, who were primarily Irish, French, and German.

[3] Kohlmann became the pastor of St. Peter's Church, replacing Matthew Byrne, who sought to be relieved so that he could join the Society of Jesus.

[17] Therefore, on October 11 of that year, upon Bishop Concanen's request, John Carroll named Kohlmann the first vicar general of the Diocese of New York.

[20][21] In 1809, in the course of their pastoral duties, Kohlmann and Fenwick were called to the deathbed of the American revolutionary and avowed atheist Thomas Paine, who hoped that the priests would be able to heal him.

When it appeared that Concanen's successor, John Connolly, would arrive in the United States,[3] Kohlmann was recalled to Maryland in January 1815.

[10] He rented a house on Mulberry Street, across from the cathedral, where the four Jesuit scholastics began teaching 35 Catholic and Protestant students, a minority of whom boarded at the school.

The police prosecuted the two accused, but before the trial could be brought to a close, Keating declared that he had been paid restitution, with Kohlmann acting as an intermediary in the transaction.

[22] In response to the district attorney's demand that he disclose the thief, Kohlmann stated that he would suffer imprisonment or death before violating the seal.

[22] The four judges, DeWitt Clinton, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Richard Cunnin, and Isaac Douglas, ruled in favor of Kohlmann, citing religious liberty as the basis of their decision.

[24] As superior, Kohlmann advocated selling the Jesuits' plantations in rural Maryland to finance the establishment of other colleges in the major American cities.

It was to serve as the home of the Washington Seminary, which was envisioned as a standalone Jesuit novitiate, to alleviate overcrowding at Georgetown.

[24] Kohlmann admitted day students reluctantly and out of financial necessity,[44] as it violated a law of the Jesuit order that forbade them from accepting compensation for educating youths.

[3] The book was well received in Catholic circles; several editions were published, and it was considered sufficiently authoritative to be read aloud in the refectory of St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore.

[46] Kohlmann's tenure as president came to an end in 1824 when he was recalled to Rome by Pope Leo XII,[47] and he was succeeded by Adam Marshall.

[48] Kohlmann became involved in the purported miraculous cure of Ann Mattingly, the sister of Thomas Carbery, the Mayor of the District of Columbia.

Kohlmann instructed her to pray a novena in union with the German Prince Alexander von Hohenlohe,[46] who had gained a reputation as a miracle worker.

[46] Despite wariness by Archbishop Ambrose Maréchal and William Matthews (Mattingly's pastor), Kohlmann was the most emphatic priest in declaring the cure a miracle and published an account of it in a Baltimore newspaper.

He held this post for five years, during which time one of his students was Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci, who would go on to become Pope Leo XIII; another was Paul Cullen, who would become the Archbishop of Dublin and the first Irish cardinal.

[3] Pope Gregory XVI promoted him within the curial staff to the position of Qualificator of the Inquisition[46] and considered making him a cardinal.

Kohlmann retired to the Jesuit house attached to the Church of the Gesù in 1831, where he served as confessor, aided by his knowledge of several languages.