He was born in Rittershof on 31 October 1883, the son of a wealthy farmer. He was the eldest of nine children, of which three were also religious. He graduated in 1904 and studied theology and philosophy at the Eichstätter Lyceum, graduating from the University of Freiburg in 1911 with a doctorate in dogmatics.[1] Rackl was ordained a priest on 29 June 1909 at the age of 25 in Eichstätt by Cardinal Konrad von Preysing.
On 4 November 1935, aged 52, Rackl was appointed Bishop of Eichstätt, where he remained until his death in May 1948.
During the Second World War, Rackl allowed British Officers in a local prisoner-of-war camp to use the printing press of the diocese to produce a camp magazine entitled "Touchstone", which was notable for including three ghost stories by Alan Noel Latimer Munby.
In 1936, Rackl declared that Catholicism and National Socialism were incompatible, having been at odds with the Nazis since his inauguration as bishop the year before. In April 1937, he defended a priest, Johann Kraus, who had been ordered to leave Eichstätt by the Nazis.[2]
