Letter to His Parents after His Conversion

Michael Joseph Edler von Arnstein

1783

Certainly, dearest parents, I know what is commonly the result of the influence of education and of misunderstood religion, but is it possible that you could hate your son because he harbors other principles of faith than yours? In these times of enlightenment, under the government of our most gracious monarch, who exhibits his tolerance and…

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Creator Bio

Michael Joseph Edler von Arnstein

1756–1811

The youngest of his parents’ five sons, Austrian Michael Joseph Arnstein converted to Catholicism in 1778, whereupon they disowned him. Deeply saddened at this turn of events, he attempted to reconcile with his parents, from whom, in the course of time, he received property and a sum of money. At his own request, and in order to develop his property, he was ennobled, receiving successively the titles Edler, Freiherr, and Reichsfreiherr, that is, nobleman, baron, and imperial baron.

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