The son of a professor, he was educated at the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium at
Cologne, making his theological studies at the
University of Bonn and the
Academy of Münster. Ordained priest, 2 September 1863, he was for twenty-five years professor of religion at the Gymnasium at
Essen. In 1886, he received his doctorate at the
University of Tübingen, his thesis being . He was preconized
titular Bishop of Juliopolis, 14 February 1889, and was thenceforth associated in the administration of the Diocese of Cologne as assistant to the auxiliary Bishop
Johann Anton Friedrich Baudri, then very old. When Baudri died (29 June 1893), Fischer succeeded him, and in 1895 he became Dean of
Cologne Cathedral. In 1902 the See of Cologne became vacant by the death of , and Fischer was elected archbishop on 6 November 1902. On 23 June 1903,
Pope Leo XIII made him a cardinal. During the ten years of his episcopate, Fischer consecrated in the diocese several hundred churches and more than one thousand altars. He was a devoted protector of the religious orders. On several occasions during religious or national celebrations he spoke of
Kaiser Wilhelm II in very warm terms, which caused much comment. At the Congress of Liège in 1890, he called for the intervention of the state in matters of
labour legislation. He declared that "aspiration towards progress, towards the betterment and preservation of earthly well-being is deeply enrooted in human nature and does not contradict the Christian moral laws." On 13 November 1905, he advised the Catholic miners assembled in Congress at Essen to co-operate with non-Catholic workmen in the discussion of common economic questions. He was likewise the defender with the
Holy See of Christian interdenominational syndicates, whose headquarters were at
Mönchengladbach, and he exerted himself to counterbalance the influence brought to bear in behalf of purely sectarian syndicates by the Catholics of Berlin, the
Bishop of Trier, and the
Cardinal-Bishop of Breslau. ==References==