HEFELE, KARL JOSEF VON German Catholic theologian, was born at Unterkochen, Wurttemberg, on March 15, 1809, and was educated at Tubingen, where, after minor appointments elsewhere, in 184o he became professor of Church history and patristics. From 1842 to 1845 he sat in the National Assembly of Wurttemberg, and in 1869 was enthroned bishop of Rottenburg. Previous to this appointment, Hefele had won a reputation for scholarship by his early publications : Patrum Apos tolicorum Opera (1839, 4th ed. 1855), Der Kardinal Ximenes (1844, end ed. 1851), Clirysostomuspostille 3rd ed. and particularly the Conciliengeschichte end ed. 1873- 9o, Eng. trans. 1871). He opposed the decrees of papal infalli bility at the Vatican Council of 187o, and did not submit until 1871. Hefele died at Rottenburg on June 6, 1893.
See Herzog, Realencyklopadie, and Dict. de Theol. catholique.