Stella Matutina in

Feldkirch Feldkirch may refer to: Places * Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, a medieval city and capital of an administrative district in Austria ** Feldkirch (district), an administrative division of Vorarlberg, Austria * Feldkirch (Hartheim), a village in the munici ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, was a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

school that operated in 1651–1773, 1856–1938, and 1946–1979.

History, scholarship, international flair

The “Kolleg” began in 1649 but opened formally in 1651. In 1773, when

Pope Clement XIV Pope Clement XIV ( la, Clemens XIV; it, Clemente XIV; 31 October 1705 – 22 September 1774), born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 May 1769 to his death in Sep ...

discontinued the order of the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

, the school closed. It was reopened under Emperor

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the Grand title of the Emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg m ...

in 1856 with the support of

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

in Feldkirch by Fr. Clemens Faller, S.J. Students came from today’s Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Croatia, and also Germany, France, England, Switzerland, and the United States. The highly-international teacher and student body flourished there until the outbreak of World War I.Josef Knünz SJ 100 Jahre Stella Matutina 1856-1956 J.N.Teutsch, Bregenz 1956; p.178 The conversational language was

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. The Stella Matutina scholars were well-known at the time.

Achille Ratti Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

, later

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

, and

Ludwig von Pastor Ludwig Pastor, later Ludwig von Pastor, Freiherr von Campersfelden (31 January 1854 – 30 September 1928), was a German historian and a diplomat for Austria. He became one of the most important Roman Catholic historians of his time and is most no ...

went to Feldkirch to conduct joint research with Jesuit professors of the Stella. The Jesuit professors were expected to publish in their respective fields and not a few of them taught at the

Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school (pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

before or after their time at the Stella. A 1931 volume of 26 publications shows a wide range of topics, from theology to law and natural sciences. After the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the Stella lost much of its international flair and educated mainly students from German-speaking countries, including much of the Catholic

aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At t ...

. The religious spirit of Stella Matutina manifested itself in occupational choices after graduation. Over twenty of the graduates (1896–1938) entered the priesthood, in many cases the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. It operated until 1938, when the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

forced the closing of the school. With the help of French occupation forces, headed by a former student, Stella Matutina reopened in 1946 and continued until 1979. Today the building houses the Vorarlberger Landeskonservatorium, with over 400 students of music.

Stilts game and soccer

According to

authorities, in the late 19th century, English students introduced

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

to the Stella and thus to Austria. This is debatable. From 1856 on, sports at the Stella was dominated by the now defunct

stilts Stilts are poles, posts or pillars that allow a person or structure to stand at a height above the ground. In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, wav ...

game, "soccer on stilts". The stilts, usually made from wood, were relatively short. They reached "with a transverse grab handle up to the middle of the thigh ... where they were clasped with a firm grip." Arm and leg muscles were activated by running on stilts and particularly by striking the ball with them.

On the playground there was ... only a gang of savage boys who, a big stalk in each hand, fought like possessed for a leather ball. ... There were some real masters among us, at home on the stalks just as on their own legs. ... As far as I am concerned, I was soon able to overtake in a race a good foot runner, to take obstacles jumping, to hop on one stalk - the other one swinging - across the whole width of the yard.

Since the stilt "was played with fanaticism", there were dangerous wounds – broken legs, lost teeth, etc. – and there were always quarrels among the players, who had the habit of hitting each other with the stilts. Because of these violent consequences, the stilts game was forbidden at the Stella Matutina and the "entombment of the stilts did not take place without streams of tears." The students went on strike, and the Jesuits permitted the less violent soccer version to be played. Unlike today's soccer, the players were allowed to use hands and there was no referee. Not only soccer was popular. The pride of the school was a larger-than-Olympic size indoor pool, which was completed in 1912, the only one in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

at the time. A delegation from the ministry in Vienna complained in 1912 that there is no other school in Austria with an indoor pool, not to mention such a large one. Ninety minutes were available in the afternoon on a daily basis for sports. The students had six large play grounds, which were converted for ice skating and hockey in winter.

Famous faculty and alumni

Stella Matutina had a series of well known professors and educators;Index of Names, Stella Matutina (ed.) 75 Jahre Stella Matutina Band III: Stellazeiten und Stellaleben, geschildert von Zöglingen mit 103 Bildtafeln including

Joseph Hermann Mohr Joseph Hermann Mohr (10 January 1834 – 7 February 1892) was a German Catholic priest, a Jesuit, hymn writer, and hymnologist. He was a member of the Society of Jesus. When all its institutions were closed due to the Jesuits Law of 1872, he left ...

(Jesuit priest, hymn writer, and hymnologist);

Franz Xavier Wernz Franz Xavier Wernz SJ (December 4, 1842 – August 19, 1914) was the twenty-fifth Superior General of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit order). He was born in Rottweil, Württemberg (afterwards part of Germany). Life Wernz was the first of ...

(Provincial General of the Jesuit Order); Swiss theologian

Hans Urs von Balthasar Hans Urs von Balthasar (12 August 1905 – 26 June 1988) was a Swiss theologian and Catholic priest who is considered an important Catholic theologian of the 20th century. He was announced as his choice to become a cardinal by Pope John Paul II, ...

(Swiss theologian); Cardinal

Franz Ehrle Franz Ehrle, S.J., (17 October 1845 – 31 March 1934) was a German Jesuit priest and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Archivist of the Secret Archives of the Vatican, in the course of which he became a leading agen ...

(Professor and Rector of Innsbruck University);

Hugo Rahner Hugo Karl Erich Rahner (3 May 1900 in Pfullendorf – 21 December 1968 in Munich) was a German Jesuit theologian and ecclesiastical historian. He was Dean and president of the University of Innsbruck and the elder brother of the famous theologian ...

(Jesuit priest and historian);

Erich Przywara Erich Przywara (12 October 1889, Katowice28 September 1972, Hagen near Murnau) was a Jesuit priest, philosopher, and theologian of German- Polish origin, who was one of the first Catholics to engage in dialogue with modern philosophers, es ...

(author);

Otto Faller Rev.Otto Faller SJ (18 February 1889 – 16 May 1971) was Provincial Superior of the Jesuit order in Germany, educator, teacher and Dean at Stella Matutina in Feldkirch, Austria and Kolleg St. Blasien in Germany, professor of patristic studies a ...

(papal advisor, scholar and superior);

Johann Georg Hagen Johann (John) Georg Hagen (March 6, 1847 – September 6, 1930) was an Austrian Jesuit priest and astronomer. After serving as Director of the Georgetown University Observatory he was called to Rome by Pope Pius X in 1906 to be the first Je ...

(Jesuit priest and astronomer); Niklaus Brantschen (

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

master, author, and founder of the Lassalle-Institute);

Michael Czinkota Michael R. Czinkota (born 1951) is an American organizational theorist and Professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. Czinkota is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce in the United States Department of ...

(Professor of International Business Economics at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in Washington, D.C.);

Thomas Baumer Thomas Baumer (born 1960 in Fribourg (Switzerland) is a Swiss economist and expert for Intercultural competence and Personality assessment. He developed parts of the ''prognostic personality and abilities assessment'' and coined this term especiall ...

(Swiss interculturalist and personality assessor); and Sir

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

(Scottish physician and writer).''Holmes at Stella Matutina''
derstandard.at, 15 May 2009. Other notables include Jesuit priests

Alfred Delp Alfred Delp (, 15 September 1907 – 2 February 1945) was a German Jesuit priest and philosopher of the German Resistance. A member of the inner Kreisau Circle resistance group, he is considered a significant figure in Catholic resistan ...

, Alois Grimm, Augustin Rösch, and

Oswald von Nell-Breuning Oswald von Nell-Breuning (8 March 1890 – 21 August 1991) was a Roman Catholic theologian and sociologist. Born in Trier, Germany into an aristocratic family, Nell-Breuning was ordained in 1921 and appointed Professor of Ethics at the Sa ...

. Some professors and educators were previous students, such as Jesuit General

, Cardinal

, and Professor Johann Baptist Singenberger. Other Stella Matutina students include Blessed Clemens August Cardinal von Galen;

Kurt Schuschnigg Kurt Alois Josef Johann von Schuschnigg (; 14 December 1897 – 18 November 1977) was an Austrian Fatherland Front politician who was the Chancellor of the Federal State of Austria from the 1934 assassination of his predecessor Engelbert Dollf ...

(the last Chancellor of

before

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

's take-over in 1938); and

Heiner Geißler Heiner Geißler (3 March 1930 – 12 September 2017) was a German politician with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and a federal minister from 1982 to 1985. Career Born Heinrichjosef Georg Geißler in Gleisweiler, he studied law an ...

(German politician and federal minister).

Literature

* Alex Blöchlinger SJ Die Bewegte Geschichte des Kollegs Stella Matutina von 1856–1938 und 1946–1979; Illustrierte Buchausgabe: Bucher Verlag, Hohenems 2006, 155 Seiten, *

SJ 25 Jahre Kolleg St.Blasien, in: "Kollegbrief 1959" Kolleg St. Blasien (Hrsg), St. Blasien 1959, Seiten 20–25 * Albert Heitlinger SJ Über alte Jesuitenkollegien und ihre Pädagogik in: "Kollegbrief Weihnachten 1954" Kolleg St. Blasien (Hrsg), St. Blasien 1954 * Josef Knünz SJ 100 Jahre Stella Matutina 1856–1956 J.N.Teutsch, Bregenz 1956 * Alois Koch SJ, Play and Sport at the Jesuit College "Stella Matutina" in Feldkirch, Published in: W. Schwank (and others ed.): Begegnung. Schriftenreihe zur Geschichte der Beziehung zwischen Christentum und Sport, volume 4. Aachen 2003 * Josef Stiglmayr SJ Festschrift zur Feier des Fünfzigjährigen Pensionats U L F Stella Matutina in Feldkirch Feldkirch, Austria, 1906 * Stella Matutina (Hrsg.) 75 Jahre Stella Matutina Band 1-3; Selbstverlag, Feldkirch, Austria, 1931; Band I: Abhandlungen von Mitgliedern des Lehrkörpers; Band II: Abhandlungen von ehemaligen Zöglingen; Band III: Stellazeiten und Stellaleben, geschildert von Zöglingen mit 103 Bildtafeln * Stella Matutina Jahresberichte, Stella Matutina Feldkirch, (annual reports) * Anton Ludewig SJ Briefe und Akten zur Geschichte des Gymnasiums und des Kollegs der Gesellschaft Jesu in Feldkirch (1649–1773) in: Jahresberichten des Privatgymnasiums Stella Matutina (1908–1911)

References

{{Authority control Arthur Conan Doyle Defunct Jesuit schools Jesuit history in Europe Pope Pius IX Educational institutions established in the 1650s 1651 establishments in Austria 1773 disestablishments in Austria Defunct schools in Austria Educational institutions established in 1856 Educational institutions disestablished in 1979 Feldkirch, Vorarlberg 1856 establishments in the Austrian Empire

History, scholarship, international flair

Stilts game and soccer

Famous faculty and alumni

Literature

See also

References