Catholic priest, archbishop, b. Pfahldorf, Bavaria. He was educated at the Univ. of Munich, and was ordained in the priesthood in 1840. In 1842 he migrated to the U.S., and after a year in Kentucky, came in 1844 to the new diocese of Milwaukee. In Milwaukee he built St. Mary's Church, was spiritual director of the Sisters of St. Francis, and first rector of St. Francis Seminary (1856-1868). He published a Latin treatise on matrimony (1861) and an English work on the four Gospels (1863), contributed articles to the Wahrheitsfreund, and helped launch the Pastoral-Blatt. Heiss played an important role in the second plenary council of Baltimore in 1866, and in 1868 was appointed the first bishop of La Crosse, holding this position from 1868 to 1880. When the aging Archbishop John M. Henni (q.v.) of Milwaukee became feeble, Heiss was named coadjutor in spite of considerable opposition, and in 1881 succeeded Henni as archbishop. In this capacity he was successful in freeing the archdiocese of debt, and also standardized the administration of the diocese. In 1883 he attended the meeting of arch-bishops in Rome, and also attended the third plenary council of Baltimore (1884). Heiss was one of five bishops who helped establish the Catholic Univ. of America, but always remained cool toward the university. He continued as archbishop of Milwaukee until his death. Dict. Amer. Biog.; [H. H. Heming], Cath. Church in Wis. (Milwaukee, 1895-1898); Cath. Hist. Rev., 31, 32; M. Ludwig, Chapter of Franciscan Hist. (New York, [1950]); P. L. John-son, Crosier on the Frontier (Madison, 1959).

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]