Księża diecezjalni z Galicji i Śląska Cieszyńskiego - doktorzy teologii Uniwersytetu Wiedeńskiego 1809-1918

Abstract

In the 19th century, a considerable number of diocesan priests from the Polish lands, being under the Austrian partition, studied at the University of Vienna. Many of them received Doctor’s Degree in Theology. On the basis of documents preserved in the Archives of the University of Vienna it was possible to define 128 names of priests from Galicia and the Duchy of Cieszyn, their dioceses, dates of their doctoral promotions, titles of almost all dissertations and the posts they held during their doctoral studies. They were often graduates of the Vienna theological institutions: the Imperial-Royal City School (Wiener k.k. Stadtconvict) or the Greek Catholic Central Seminary (Das griechisch-katholische Zentralseminar), ln 1916, the elitist Higher Educational Institute for Diocesan Priests called Augustineum (das höhere Priester-Bildungs-Institut für Weltpriester zum hl. Augustin) was founded in the capital of the Austrian Empire by Francis II, due to the efforts of Father Jakob Frint, priest at the Castle of Vienna, who was influenced by Saint Clement Maria Hofbauer. The objective of the Institute was to educate, in the spirit of Catholic Restoration and overcoming Josephism, the elite of clergy, future bishops, university professors, lecturers and educators of major seminaries as well as senior officers of the Church administration. Father Frint was director of the Institute for the first 10 years till he was appointed Bishop of Sankt Pölten. The Institute was also named after Father Frint, in recognition of his merits in the fields of formation and education of clergy. The educational objective of the ‘Frintaneum’ was to confer after at least three-year studies a doctor’s degree on students coming from various countries of the Habsburgs’ Empire. The graduates of the Educational Institute achieved the biggest number of the Doctorate in Theology of the University of Vienna. At first, in order to earn a doctor’s degree one had to write a scholarly dissertation or to take examinations, the so-called corollarium, in theology as a whole. From 1777, dissertations and four examinations in biblical hermeneutics, dogmatic and polemical theology, moral and pastoral theology as well as Church history and canon law, were required. A doctoral student had to defend in public 50 theses chosen from obligatory theological disciplines. In the 19th century the requirements were: four-year theological studies completed with a good result and four examinations called ‘rigours’ in four groups of theological subjects: Old Testament and New Testament studies, dogmatic theology, moral and pastoral theology as well as Church history and canon law. After passing these examinations a doctoral student submitted a dissertation in Latin. The next step was a public defense (dispute) of the 50 theses in question. The dispute was given up in 1873. A larger doctoral dissertation was required instead. From 1903, dogmatic theology and apologetics were taken as an oral examination. The dissertation was to be written on a theme freely chosen from one of the three groups of subjects: biblical studies, moral and pastoral theology, and Church history and canon law. From that time students had to take three examinations. There was no examination concerning the group of subjects the dissertation was written upon. Later, numerous doctors of theology of the University of Vienna became bishops and university professors in Cracow and Lvov (the Polish Lwów). Some of them made an outstanding contribution to European science and culture.