Kopp was born in
Duderstadt in the
Kingdom of Hanover. He was the son of a
weaver and attended the
gymnasium at
Hildesheim. In 1856 he became a
telegraph operator in the employ of the Hanoverian government. From 1858 to 1861, he studied
theology and in 1862 entered the priesthood. He rose rapidly in his profession and in 1872 was made vicar-general at Hildesheim and three years later bishop of
Fulda. He worked to bring about a better understanding between the German government and the
papal curia. After his election to the House of Lords he obtained a mitigation of the anti-Catholic provisions which characterized the
May laws. In 1887, with the approval of the
Prussian government, the Pope appointed him prince-bishop of Breslau (
Wrocław), and in 1893 he was made cardinal. As prince bishop he pursued Germanization and censured those priests whom he suspected as resisting these measures, opposed used of Polish in classes and communion, and tried secretly to discourage Polish faithful from making pilgrimages to
Kraków. He was made Cardinal by
Pope Leo XIII in 1893. He took part in the
1903 conclave which elected Pope
Pius X. He was honored to be listed first among the recipients of that pope’s
encyclical Singulari Quadam promulgated on 24 September 1912. Kopp died in
Opava in
Austrian Silesia. ==Notes==