\n\n\n\nThe Society of Jesus and the University of Vienna<\/span><\/h1>\nFrom the \u201cuniversitas magistrorum et scholarium\u201d to a Catholic state university<\/span><\/div>\n1551\u20131773<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n\nThree years mark the history of the Jesuits at the University of Vienna: In 1550 the order was called to Vienna by the sovereign King Ferdinand I<\/a>, in 1623 the Jesuit College was incorporated into the university and finally in 1773 the order was suppressed by decree of Pope Clement XIV, which ended the Viennese Jesuit College.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\nAfter Martin Luther\u2019s reformation had arrived in the Habsburg territory and especially in the city of Vienna, Ferdinand I took measures to stabilize his reign and to reform Christian life in his lands. In this, the University of Vienna had a central role: As cradle of the Catholic clergy and training center for future state officials. In 1533 and 1537 reform laws<\/a> were implemented, which aimed to transform the medieval university corporation into a Catholic state university.<\/span><\/p>\nFerdinand I brings the Society of Jesus to Vienna (1550\/51)<\/span><\/h4>\nThe young Society of Jesus, which had devoted itself to the \u201csalvation of souls\u201d, caught the eye of King Ferdinand I. One of the closest companions of the order\u2019s founder Ignatius of Loyola, Claudius Jajus (Claude Jay), won the sovereign\u2019s trust and founded an interest group at the 1550 Diet of Augsburg. This group would shape the future Austrian educational system. The sovereign was in the process of consolidating his reign based on Catholicism. In this, he had found a potential partner in the Society of Jesus, which could be presented as the \u201csavior\u201d of the decaying Catholic educational system. Although the Society of Jesus did not see itself as a teaching order, youth work soon became one of its main tasks. An \u201cinner mission\u201d was supposed to answer the muddled denominational situation in the Catholic areas. To achieve this they wanted to approach the malleable youth. The order\u2019s founder Ignatius of Loyola \u201cknew of no better device against the universal German sickness than using impeccable and religious men at the universities\u201d. King Ferdinand\u2019s initiative to found a Jesuit College in Vienna was welcomed by Ignatius as a divine inspiration. For the college\u2019s establishment Ferdinand asked for a delegation of two order members who also were to lecture at the Faculty of Theology. Claudius Jajus was the first to arrive in Vienna from Ingolstadt on April 25, 1551. Soon after, a second group of eleven Jesuits arrived from Rome. They received accommodations in a desolate side wing of the Dominican monastery. The priests immediately began lecturing at the Faculty of Theology. Claudius Jajus reported to Rome that there were \u201cgood professors of the humanities, Greek, Hebrew, philosophy, medicine and law at the university\u201d, but that he suspected some of them of \u201cheresy\u201d. Competent professors were scarce, but those who were not \u201cloyal Catholics\u201d should still be dismissed in his opinion. At first the idea to base all subjects apart from law and medicine at the Jesuit College and to establish publically accessible studies there could not be put into practice. This idea became the starting point of altercations between the university and Jesuits. At the same time Ferdinand achieved the sending of Petrus Canisius<\/a> to Vienna, who was supposed to continue the university reform. He wanted to invigorate the university and make it attractive by appointing studied professors with Jesuit teaching methods to teaching positions and through the good example of successful Jesuit scholars. In 1553 Canisius joined the reform commission and spoke out for the dismissal of \u201cheretic\u201d professors. Replacing all non-Catholics at the university with Jesuits would have failed due to the lack of personnel. Canisius took a hard line and succeeded in getting the head of the school of the Protestant estates and professor at the Faculty of Arts, Nikolaus Polites from Brussels, incarcerated and banished from the country. Canisius regretted the punishment\u2019s \u201cleniency\u201d in a letter to the Jesuit Superior General. He was of the opinion it would encourage the \u201cdamned plague among professors and students\u201d, while the university was feeding \u201cmonsters and heretics\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Reformatio Nova<\/span><\/h4>\nOn January 1, 1554, the university obtained a new constitutional charter, known as the \u201cReformatio Nova\u201d. It drove back the medieval corporative character and expanded the sovereign\u2019s influence in the university. Certain authors and books were prescribed for the compulsory lectures and the chairs were given to state-funded professors. The collegiate funds, which had been the financial basis for independently lecturing doctors, were abolished and the right of co-optation was reduced to a vague nominating power for appointments. At the same time the sovereign improved the university\u2019s economic basis. The verification of newly appointed professors\u2019 religious confession was made less strict in a response to the available supply of personnel. It is not known how much Canisius himself or other Jesuits directly worked on the reform law. In any case, it remained the University of Vienna\u2019s basic constitution until the Theresian-Josephinist reforms of the 18th century<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\nCatholic reform, education and denominational conflicts<\/span><\/h4>\nSince the beginnings of the Catholic reform in Austria it was clear that the renewal of the parish and pastoral clergy could not exclusively come from the reservoir of students of the Society of Jesus. The flourishing Trivial school in the Jesuit College, in which grammar and humanities were taught, also began educating external students. In 1553 the university had hesitantly given its approval to the establishment of a public school. When the priests added a philosophical course of studies, also accepted students from outside of the order and even gave master\u2019s degrees to non-Jesuits, the \u201ccasus belli\u201d was given. Not even Pope Pius IV could change this when he gave the order the right to establish Jesuit Colleges with the right to award doctorates in artistic and theological subjects in 1561. For more than 50 years the fight over the allocation of responsibilities continued. The university repeatedly demanded the suspension of public lessons in the College and the complete \u201cabolishment of Jesuits\u201d in Vienna, since they drew students to their College in \u201cdishonest competition\u201d. Not least because of their tuition-free education, the Jesuits had up to 1000 students. Tenaciously, the university defended its old monopoly on education and its old privileges. It was threatened with the consolidation of the university and college and with it the end of the university corporation.<\/span><\/p>\nCounter-Reformation<\/span><\/h4>\nWhile access to the university for non-Catholics had been facilitated under Emperor Maximilian II (1564-1576) and even Protestant rectors and professors had been tolerated, under Emperor Rudolf II (1576-1612) the turbulent \u201cKhlesl era\u201d followed, which was marked by counter-reformational measures. In 1578 the rightfully elected rector was deposed because he refused to participate in the Corpus Christi procession. Melchior Khlesl<\/a>, from a Protestant Viennese family, Jesuit student and later archbishop of Vienna, became dean of St. Stephen\u2019s cathedral and university chancellor in 1579. He enacted an obligatory Roman-Catholic profession of faith for all graduates. Although Khlesl had vehemently opposed the Jesuits\u2019 interests as university rector and had wanted to withdraw both of their chairs of theology, a reform commission was established under his rule, which for the first time discussed handing over all philosophical studies to the Jesuits in 1609. The four faculties wrote lengthy assessments of this idea, prophesying the \u201cruin of the whole university\u201d. Even the theologians, who highly praised the Jesuits, stressed the \u201cimpossibility\u201d of this plan \u2013 an \u201cimpossible\u201d plan which finally became a reality after turbulent disputes.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cHostile takeover\u201d of two faculties by the Societas Jesu<\/span><\/h4>\nIn 1623 the Viennese Jesuit College was incorporated into the university by decree of Emperor Ferdinand II<\/a>. The order received most of the professorships at the Faculty of Theology and all at the Faculty of Philosophy. At the same time the university\u2019s buildings and several bursae \u2013 except for the jurists\u2019 and physicians\u2019 buildings \u2013 were given to the Society of Jesus with the mandate to construct the Academic College (\u201cCollegium Academicum Viennense Societatis Jesu\u201d) complete with a church, theater, library and observatory in their place. The classes of the Faculties of Theology and Philosophy were to be held in this new college. As a consequence of the Jesuit College\u2019s incorporation, a \u201cdouble-tracked\u201d administration was developed. The Jesuit College\u2019s \u201cFather rector\u201d was responsible for his order\u2019s brothers and students, but could not be elected university rector, while the rector conversely could not be a member of the Society of Jesus. In 1628 the rectorate moved into a house at Sonnenfelsgasse 19 \u2013 today called \u201cdomus antiqua\u201d \u2013 which was provided by the Jesuits. Until the relocation into the Ring palace in 1884<\/a> this remained the headquarters of the university administration.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Jesuits\u2019 work at the university<\/span><\/h4>\nMore than 2000 high school pupils and students were educated by 17-20 priests at the Academic College. Apart from the Faculty of Theology, the priests supervised six high school classes (parvists, principists, grammatists, syntaxists, poets, rhetors) and the subjects of the Faculty of Philosophy (logic, physics, metaphysics). Besides their teaching work the Jesuits from the Viennese college often also stood out through research. People who should be highlighted include Fr. Paul Guldin (1577-1643), who wrote mathematical-astronomical works (\u201cGuldinus theorem\u201d) and who was in contact with Johannes Kepler. Other famous Jesuits working in mathematics were Fr. Gabriel Fr\u00f6lich (1657-1725) and Fr. Franz Rescalli (1651-1713). In the historical sciences productive order members included the author of the \u201cAnnales Austriae\u201d and the \u201cAnnales ecclesiastici Germaniae\u201d, Fr. Sigismund Calles<\/a> (1695-1761) or Fr. Franz Molindes (1678-1768) who wrote a \u201cSynopsis historiae universalis\u201d until Emperor Charles VI. In the natural sciences particularly the all-round talented Fr. Joseph Franz (1704-1776) should be mentioned, who founded a widely recognized \u201cMuseum mathematicum\u201d with equipment for optics, astronomy, geography, geometry etc. and later was head of the observatory built in 1733. Fr. Maximilian Hell<\/a> (1720-1792) acquired a good reputation in the field of astronomy<\/a> as director of the observatory and through his calculation of the ephemerides (tables of the daily positions of celestial bodies), which were publicized in 37 volumes.<\/span><\/p>\nWhen Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Society of Jesus in 1773, the order\u2019s possessions were integrated into the study fund and the Academic College and the Jesuit church were gifted to the university. Some of the \u201cex-Jesuits\u201d continued teaching and doing research at the University of Vienna.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nDRUCKVERSION<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\nKurt M\u00fchlberger<\/span><\/div>\nZuletzt aktualisiert am 04\/15\/24<\/i><\/small><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nPersons<\/label><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nFerdinand I. (Habsburg), Erzherzog von \u00d6sterreich <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n10.3.1503\u201325.7.1564<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nMelchior Khlesl <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n19.2.1552\u201318.9.1630<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nPetrus Canisius <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n8.5.1521\u201321.12.1597<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nWilhelm Lamormaini <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n29.12.1570\u201322.2.1648<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nSigismund Calles SJ <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n12.3.1695\u20133.1.1767<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nMaximilian Hell (H\u00f6ll) <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n15.5.1720\u201314.4.1792<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nFranz Rescalli <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n1651\u20131713<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nFerdinand I. (Habsburg), Erzherzog von \u00d6sterreich <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n10.3.1503\u201325.7.1564<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nMelchior Khlesl <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n19.2.1552\u201318.9.1630<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nPetrus Canisius <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n8.5.1521\u201321.12.1597<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nWilhelm Lamormaini <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n29.12.1570\u201322.2.1648<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nSigismund Calles SJ <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n12.3.1695\u20133.1.1767<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nMaximilian Hell (H\u00f6ll) <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n15.5.1720\u201314.4.1792<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nFranz Rescalli <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n1651\u20131713<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nMelchior Khlesl <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n19.2.1552\u201318.9.1630<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nPetrus Canisius <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n8.5.1521\u201321.12.1597<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nWilhelm Lamormaini <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n29.12.1570\u201322.2.1648<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nSigismund Calles SJ <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n12.3.1695\u20133.1.1767<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nMaximilian Hell (H\u00f6ll) <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n15.5.1720\u201314.4.1792<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nFranz Rescalli <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n1651\u20131713<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nPetrus Canisius <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n8.5.1521\u201321.12.1597<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nWilhelm Lamormaini <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n29.12.1570\u201322.2.1648<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nSigismund Calles SJ <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n12.3.1695\u20133.1.1767<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nMaximilian Hell (H\u00f6ll) <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n15.5.1720\u201314.4.1792<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nFranz Rescalli <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n1651\u20131713<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nWilhelm Lamormaini <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n29.12.1570\u201322.2.1648<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nSigismund Calles SJ <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n12.3.1695\u20133.1.1767<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nMaximilian Hell (H\u00f6ll) <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n15.5.1720\u201314.4.1792<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nFranz Rescalli <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n1651\u20131713<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nSigismund Calles SJ <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n12.3.1695\u20133.1.1767<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nMaximilian Hell (H\u00f6ll) <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n15.5.1720\u201314.4.1792<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nFranz Rescalli <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n1651\u20131713<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nMaximilian Hell (H\u00f6ll) <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n15.5.1720\u201314.4.1792<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nFranz Rescalli <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n1651\u20131713<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nFranz Rescalli <\/a><\/small><\/span><\/h2>\n1651\u20131713<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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