Joseph Fessler, an Austrian prelate, born at Lochau, Tyrol, Dec. 2, 1813. In 1837 he was ordained priest in Brixen, and devoted himself to teaching. He was professor of history and canon law for eleven years in the seminary of Brixen, and for four years in the university of Vienna, where he filled for four years more the newly established chair on the "Decretals." In 1861 the pope summoned him to Rome, and employed him in managing the affairs of the eastern churches, appointing him also consultor of the Propaganda on oriental rites. The bishop of Brixen at the same time named him his vicar general. Pius IX. nominated him, April 7, 1862, bishop of Nyssa in partibus; and on March 27, 1865, he was made bishop of St. Polten in Lower Austria. His long studies and labors on patrology, church history, and canon law, as well as in all that relates to the holding of diocesan, provincial, and general councils, caused the pope to designate him in 1869 as secretary of the council of the Vatican.