He was born in the Ter Worm Castle, Heerlen, Netherlands, of the old Catholic noble family Fürstenberg-Stammheim from Westphalia, Germany.

During the Regency of Belgium, he was named chaplain of the court and decorated with the Cross of Knight of the Order of Leopold II for his patriotic conduct.

[citation needed] He was named by the bishops of Belgium as rector of the Belgian Pontifical College in Rome on 27 February 1946.

He occupied the post until his promotion to the episcopate; among his students was the young priest Karol Wojtyla, future Pope John Paul II.

He was created and proclaimed Cardinal-Priest of Sacro Cuore di Gesù a Castro Pretorio (deaconry elevated pro hac vice to title) in the consistory of 26 June 1967 by Pope Paul VI.

For thirty-seven days, in coincidence with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Congregation in 1969, he traveled to India, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and the Holy Land to visit the patriarchs of the Catholic Oriental Churches and also Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople.

[citation needed] Pope Paul appointed him Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in March 1972, a post he held until his death.

The following day, in accordance with his last will, he was buried in the crypt of the Franciscan church of Mont-Apollinaris at Remagen, Germany, that his great-grandfather, Count Franz Egon von Fürstenberg-Stammheim (1797–1859), had built.