Valentin Wiery (12 February 1813 – 29 December 1880) was an Austrian Catholic bishop.David M. Cheney, Catholic-hierarchy.org, Valentin Wiery.
Wiery was born in St Marein in Wolfsberg, and was educated locally (learning the Slovenian language). He then studied at the gymnasia in Görz and in Klagenfurt, where he pursued the philosophy curriculum. He then entered the seminary at Klagenfurt where he completed his training in theology.Von Wurzbach, p. 33. He was ordained on 24 August 1835.Geistlicher Personalstand der Diözese Gurk: im Jahre 1861, p. 9, gives the date 4 August 1835, as does von Wurzbach, p. 33. Recognizing his talent, the bishop of Lavant, Ignaz Franz Zimmermann (1824–1843), sent him to the graduate seminary for priests in Vienna, where he obtained a doctorate in theology.Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Kaiserthumes Österreich: 1845 (Wien 1845), p. 36. Von Wurzbach, p. 33.
At Lavant, he was diocesan superintendent of schools.Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Kaiserthumes Österreich: 1847 (Wien: Johann Baptist Schönwetter 1847), p. 38. He was named a canon of the cathedral of Lavant on 20 October 1844, and canon of the cathedral of Salzburg on 20 November 1851.Geistlicher Personalstand der Diözese Gurk: im Jahre 1861, p. 9.
Canon Wiery was appointed Prince-Bishop of Gurk on 30 October 1858, and confirmed on 20 November. He was consecrated Bishop of Gurk on 21 November 1858 by Maximilian Joseph von Tarnóczy, Archbishop of Salzburg, assisted by Bishops Anton Martin Slomšek, Bishop of Lavant; Ottokar Maria von Attems, Bishop of Seckau; and Balthasar Schitter, Titular Bishop of Dulma.Geistlicher Personalstand der Diözese Gurk: im Jahre 1861, p. 9. David M. Cheney, Catholic-hierarchy.org, Valentin Wiery. He was enthroned in the cathedral at Klagenfurt on 8 December 1858. His consecration was considered a display of Tarnóczy's personal power, and Wiery came to be considered a prominent modern Prince-Bishop.
He took part in the First Vatican Council in 1869–1870.The Vatican Council from Its Opening to Its Prorogation, Parts 30-39 (London: Tablet Office 1871), p. 179.
Wiery died on 29 December 1880.
References
Sources Katholische Kirche Diözese Gurk (1861). Geistlicher Personalstand der Diözese Gurk: im Jahre 1861. Klagenfurt: Johann Leon 1861.
Wurzbach, Constant von (1888). Biographisches lexikon des kaiserthums Oesterreich. Volume 56. Wien: K. K. Hof- und staatsdruckerei, 1888. pp. 33-34.