Anthony Kohlmann

Anthony Kohlmann
Portrait of Anthony Kohlmann
11th President of Georgetown College
In office
1817–1820
Preceded byBenedict Joseph Fenwick
Succeeded byEnoch Fenwick
Personal details
Born
Anton Kohlmann

(1771-07-13)July 13, 1771
Kaysersberg, Alsace, Kingdom of France
DiedApril 11, 1836(1836-04-11) (aged 64)
Rome, Papal States
Alma materCollège Saint-Michel
Orders
OrdinationApril 1796

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 joined the Society of the Sacred Heart and ministered throughout Europe before entering the Society of Jesus. He left for the United States in 1806, where he taught at Georgetown College and ministered to German-speaking congregations in the mid-Atlantic region. In 1808, he became the pastor of New York City's only Catholic church, and then was made the apostolic administrator and first vicar general of the newly created Diocese of New York. He established the diocese's first cathedral in 1809. Kohlmann also founded a school, the New York Literary Institution; established an orphanage; and invited the first Ursuline nuns to the United States.

In 1813, the City of New York sought to compel Kohlmann to disclose the identity of a thief, which he learned during a confession. In a landmark decision, the state court ruled that he could not be compelled to violate the seal of the confessional, recognizing the confessional privilege for the first time in the United States. Kohlmann returned to Maryland in 1815 as superior of the Jesuits' Maryland Mission and president of Georgetown College. Three years later, he left Georgetown to establish the Washington Seminary, which became Gonzaga College High School. In 1824, Pope Leo XII named Kohlmann the chair of theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Kohlmann later became a consultor to the College of Cardinals and various curial congregations, and was then appointed Qualificator of the Inquisition.