Karl Johann Greith

In 1829 he went to Paris to perfect himself in library work; while there he decided to enter the priesthood and completed his theological studies in the Sulpician seminary of that city.

From early years he had been an intimate friend of Ignaz von Döllinger, and at the First Vatican Council he held, in regard to the question of papal infallibility, that a dogmatic decision was inadvisable under existing circumstances.

He could not prevent the suppression of his seminary for boys nor hinder the civil prohibition of missions and retreats; nevertheless he renewed the religious life of his diocese and called into being an educated clergy.

He devoted himself to the study of history and corresponded with numerous scholars, among others Joseph Freiherr von Lasaberg, Georg Heinrich Pertz, Johann Friedrich Böhmer, Franz Pfeiffer, Johann Friedrich Heinrich Schlosser, Franz Mone, Gall Morel, and others.

He also wrote, in collaboration with the Benedictine Georg Ulber, Handbuch der Philosophie fur die Schule und das Leben (Freiburg, 1853–57).