Lusatia (politically part of Prussian Brandenburg since 1815) and eastern Upper Lusatia (to Silesia province as of 1815) to Breslau diocese. With the exception of the districts of Bütow (Bytów) and Lauenburg (Pommern) (Lębork), until 1922 both part of the Diocese of Culm/Chełmno, the rest of Brandenburg and Pomerania province were, since 1821, supervised by the Prince-Episcopal Delegation for Brandenburg and Pomerania. Schimonsky retained for himself and his successors the title of prince-bishop, although the episcopal rule in the Principality of Neisse had ended by its secularization. However, the rank of prince-bishop later included the ex officio membership in the Prussian House of Lords (since 1854) and in the Austrian House of Lords (since 1861). Schimonsky combatted the rationalistic tendencies which were rife among his clergy in regard to celibacy and the use of Latin in the church services and ceremonies. During the episcopate of his predecessor the government had promulgated a law which was a source of much trouble to Schimonsky and his immediate successors; this was that in those places where Catholics were few in number, the parish should be declared extinct and the church buildings given to the newly founded Evangelical Church in Prussia. In spite of the protests of the episcopal authorities, over one hundred church buildings were lost in this way. King Frederick William III of Prussia put an end to this injustice, and sought to make good the injuries inflicted. For several years after Schimonsky's death the see remained vacant. It was eventually filled by the election, through government influence, of Count Leopold von Sedlnitzky (1836–40). Prince-Bishop von Sedlnitzky was neither clear nor firm in his maintenance of the doctrines of the Church; on the question of mixed marriages, which had become one of great importance, he took an undecided position. At last, upon the demand of Pope Gregory XVI, he resigned his see in 1840. He went afterwards to Berlin, where he was made a privy-councillor, and where he became a Protestant in 1862. In 1871 he died in Berlin and was buried in the Protestant cemetery in Rankau (today's Ręków, a part of Sobótka). The dean of the cathedral, Dr. Ritter, administered the diocese for several years until the election of Joseph Knauer (1843–44), earlier Grand Dean of the Silesian County of Glatz within the Diocese of Hradec Králové. The new prince-bishop, who was 79 years old, lived only a year after