Ferdinand Maria von Lobkowitz (Vienna, 18 December 1726 - Münster, 29 January 1795) was a Catholic priest and 15th Bishop of Namur (1772–1779) and 17th Bishop of Ghent (1779–1795).
Life
editHis parents were Austrian Field Marshal and Governor of Sicily, Johann Georg Christian, Prince of Lobkowicz (1686–1755) and his wife Karoline Henriette von Waldstein (1702–1780). His great-grandfather was the second Prince of Lobkowitz, Wenzel Eusebius von Lobkowicz.
On 21 January 1751, Ferdinand Maria von Lobkowitz was ordained a priest and subsequently served as vicar in Salzburg and canon in Liège and Augsburg.
Pope Clement XIV appointed him Bishop of Namur on 30 January 1772. He was ordained bishop on 10 May of the same year. On 20 September 1779, Pope Pius VI appointed him Bishop of Ghent. His motto was Ad haerere Deus bonum (It is good to attach oneself to God).
On 23 June 1794, the Bishop fled from the approaching French revolutionaries, via Antwerp, Düsseldorf and Delft to Münster, where he arrived ill, and died on 29 January 1795 at the age of 68. He was buried in the Münster Cathedral.
The French abolished the Bishopric of Ghent. A successor wasn't appointed until 1802, after the restoration of Catholic worship.