KLEIN, JOHANN A. 



LEONHARDI, HERMANN, K. 421 



KLEIN, JOHANN ADAM, a German painter, 

 born at Nuremberg, November 24, 1792 ; died 

 May 21, 1875. He studied in Vienna from 

 1811 to 1815, and then traveled through Styria, 

 Hungary, and the country of the Danube, find- 

 ing in the military events of the time many 

 subjects for his sketch-book and canvas. On 

 returning to his native city, he produced paint- 

 ings of considerable merit, the proceeds of 

 which enabled him to visit the Rhine, the 

 Main, and the Neckar. Resuming his studies 

 at the Art Academy in Vienna, he remained 



there from 1816 to 1819, when, through the 

 liberality of Prince Louis, of Bavaria, he was 

 enabled to go to Italy. Returning to Nurem- 

 berg in 1822, he painted several battle-scenes 

 and other incidents of military life. He was 

 considered one of the best painters of horses 

 in Germany, and excelled in portrait-painting 

 as well as in landscape. He was likewise a 

 skillful engraver, and reproduced many of his 

 own works, as well as those of other artists. 

 His engravings are prized in Germany for their 

 fineness and completeness. 



LAFONT, Rev. Father AUNET, pastor of 

 the church of St. Vincent de Paul in New 

 York City; died January 7, 1875. He was 

 born at Ainbert in Auvergne, France, October 

 2, 1812. His earlier training was received at 

 Billom, where he was always at the head of 

 his class. He studied theology at the Semina- 

 ry of Clermont-Ferrand, where he completed 

 his course at the age of twenty-two. Before 

 he was twenty-five he was appointed Professor 

 of Philosophy and afterward Professor of 

 Theology in the same institution. He was or- 

 dained priest in 1837, and was appointed as- 

 sistant pastor of Lezoux, in which office he dis- 

 tinguished himself in the discharge of his duty. 

 He remained there two years. In 1839 he en- 

 tered the Society of the Fathers of Mercy. He 

 was among the first missionaries sent to Ameri- 

 ca by the Superior of this society, Rev. Father 

 Rauzan. The Rev. Father was at the College 

 of Spring Hill, when the Bishop of Nancy, 

 Mgr. Count de Forbin-Janson, being in New 

 York, and desirous of establishing a French 

 Catholic church in that city, Father Lafont 

 was sent to him. In 1842 lie founded the 

 French Congregation in Canal Street, and in 

 1857 the present church in Twenty -third 

 Street was built. He was the first to intro- 

 duce the Order of Christian Brothers in this 

 country. He also introduced the Order of the 

 Sisters of the Holy Cross, and was chiefly instru- 

 mental in establishing in New York the Order 

 of the Little Sisters of the Poor. He received 

 and harbored the first Jesuit Fathers who came 

 to the United States. He advised the estab- 

 lishment of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan- 

 ville, and introduced the work of the Society 

 for the Propagation of the Faith and of the 

 Holy Childhood. He also established the school 

 of St. Vincent de Paul, and gave the pupils his 

 untiring care. In 1860 he founded the Orphan 

 Asylum of St. Vincent de Paul, and caused the 

 present splendid structure in Thirty -ninth 

 Street near Seventh Avenue, New York, to be 

 built for the inmates, and placed them under 

 the care of the Good Sisters of the Holy Cross. 



LAROUSSE, PIERRE, a French journalist 

 and educational writer, born at Toucy, Octo- 

 ber 23, 1817 ; died January 3, 1875. He re- 



ceived his education in a primary school, and 

 also passed through a few classes of the Col- 

 lege of Versailles. He was for a time teacher 

 in a small school in his native town, and after- 

 ward professor in a large Parisian institute. 

 In 1851 he established with M. Boyer a pub- 

 lishing-house, chiefly for the publication of his 

 educational works, of which he published a 

 large number, and all of which met with con- 

 siderable success. His principal work was his 

 "Grand Dictionnaire Universel du Dix-neu- 

 vieme Sicle," which he began in 1864. He 

 also founded two educational journals, L'ficole 

 Normale, in 1858, and L' } Emulation, in 1860. 



LEONHARDI, HERMANN KARL, Freiherr 

 von, a German philosopher, was born at Frank- 

 fort-on-the-Main, March 12, 1809; died Au- 

 gust 21, 1875. He received his first education 

 in the Lyceum of Hanover, from where he 

 went to the University of Gottingen. Here 

 he studied natural history and philosophy, in 

 accordance with the wishes of his father. In 

 Gottingen he also became acquainted with the 

 eminent philosopher and thinker, Karl Chris- 

 tian Friedrich Krause, whose lectures on logic 

 he attended. This acquaintance soon ripened 

 into friendship and deep veneration for the 

 teacher, so that Leonhardi soon determined 

 to devote his life to spreading Krause's doc- 

 trines. After the death of Krause, in 1832, he 

 edited and published the latter's "Religions- 

 philosophie " (1834-'43) ; " Erkenntnisslehre " 

 (1836) ; and " Lebenslehre und Philosophie der 

 Geschichte " (1843). On his various journeys 

 he became acquainted with Friedrich Froebel 

 and Langethal, and thus fitted himself for sub- 

 sequently uniting the schools of Krause and 

 Froebel. In 1841 he married Krause's second 

 daughter, and then went to Heidelberg. It was 

 here that he became acquainted with Julian 

 Sanz del Rio, whom he induced to introduce 

 Krause's philosophy into the Spanish high- 

 schools, where it was better appreciated than 

 in Germany. In his work u Ueber den Deutsch- 

 katholicismus," he pronounced against Ronge 

 and against those who rejected every religious 

 creed. In 1849 he was appointed extraordi- 

 nary and in 1866 ordinary professor in Prague. 

 But three parties, the Ultramontanes, the ad- 



