Hurter
Encyclopedia
The von Hurter family belonged to the Swiss nobility; in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries three of them were known for their conversions to Roman Catholicism, their ecclesiastical careers in Austria
and their theological writings.
, 19 March 1787; died at Graz
, 27 August 1865) was a Swiss Protestant cleric and historian who converted to Roman Catholicism.
From 1804 to 1806 he attended the University of Göttingen, and in 1808 was appointed to a country parish. The appearance in 1834 of the first volume of the life of Pope Innocent III
, on which he had been working for twenty years, caused a profound sensation in both Catholic
and Protestant circles, and was soon translated into French
, English
, Italian
, and Spanish
. Hurter was chosen in 1835 antistes
of the clergy in the Canton of Schaffhausen
, and later president of the school board, in which capacities he laboured with great zeal.
During many years his manifest sympathy and intimacy with the Catholic clergy, including the Archbishop of Freiburg
and the papal nuncios to Switzerland
, and his disinterested efforts to assist Catholics roused the antagonism of his colleagues who took the first pretext to let loose a storm of abuse against Hurter. As a result he resigned his dignities in 1841, lived in retirement for three years, and in 1844 went to Rome, where on 16 June he made his profession of faith before Gregory XVI
, his conversion being the signal for renewed attacks. In 1846 he was appointed imperial counsellor and historiographer at the Court of Vienna
, and took up the task assigned him, the life of Emperor Ferdinand II
, which, however, was withheld from the press by the court censors, but appeared later at Schaffhausen.
The Revolution of 1848 involved the loss of Hurter's position at Court, to which, however, he was restored in 1852. Till his death he laboured for the spread of Catholic religion, especially in connexion with the foreign mission field; he was also in close touch with the greatest scholars of the day. He was appointed by the pope a commander of the Order of St Gregory, and was a member of the academies of Rome
, Munich
, Brussels
, and Assisi
.
) was a distinguished Roman Catholic theologian.
He was ordained priest in 1855. From 1849 to 1856 he studied at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, where he was made doctor of philosophy and theology. In 1857 he entered into the Society of Jesus
, and after a brief residence in the college at Baumgarten was appointed in 1858 to the theological faculty of the University of Innsbruck as professor of dogmatic theology
(professor emeritus
after his retirement in 1903). Between 1887 and 1890 he was also Rector of the Jesuits' college in Innsbruck (the "Nicolaihaus", predecessor of the better-known Collegium Canisianum
).
His chief works are: Theologiae dogmaticae compendium (3 vols., Innsbruck, 1876-78; 11th ed., 1903); Nomenclator literarius theologiae catholicae (3 vols., Innsbruck, 1871-86; 3rd ed., 5 vols., 1903); Medulla theologiae dogmaticae (2 vols., Innsbruck, 1870; 7th ed., 1902). He also edited the collection Selecta opuscula SS. Patrum (54 vols., 1868-92).
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and their theological writings.
Life
Friedrich Emmanuel von Hurter (born at SchaffhausenSchaffhausen
Schaffhausen is a city in northern Switzerland and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 34,587 ....
, 19 March 1787; died at Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, 27 August 1865) was a Swiss Protestant cleric and historian who converted to Roman Catholicism.
From 1804 to 1806 he attended the University of Göttingen, and in 1808 was appointed to a country parish. The appearance in 1834 of the first volume of the life of Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
, on which he had been working for twenty years, caused a profound sensation in both Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
and Protestant circles, and was soon translated into French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. Hurter was chosen in 1835 antistes
Antistes
Antistes was from the 16th to the 19th century the title of the head of the church in the Reformed Churches in Switzerland...
of the clergy in the Canton of Schaffhausen
Canton of Schaffhausen
The Canton of is a canton of Switzerland. The principal city and capital of the canton is Schaffhausen.- History:Schaffhausen was a city-state in the Middle Ages, documented to have struck its own coins starting in 1045. It was then known as Villa Scafhusun. Around 1049 Count Eberhard von...
, and later president of the school board, in which capacities he laboured with great zeal.
During many years his manifest sympathy and intimacy with the Catholic clergy, including the Archbishop of Freiburg
Archdiocese of Freiburg
The Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau is a Roman Catholic diocese in Baden-Württemberg comprising the former states of Baden and Hohenzollern...
and the papal nuncios to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and his disinterested efforts to assist Catholics roused the antagonism of his colleagues who took the first pretext to let loose a storm of abuse against Hurter. As a result he resigned his dignities in 1841, lived in retirement for three years, and in 1844 went to Rome, where on 16 June he made his profession of faith before Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI , born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, named Mauro as a member of the religious order of the Camaldolese, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846...
, his conversion being the signal for renewed attacks. In 1846 he was appointed imperial counsellor and historiographer at the Court of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and took up the task assigned him, the life of Emperor Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II , a member of the House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , and King of Hungary . His rule coincided with the Thirty Years' War.- Life :...
, which, however, was withheld from the press by the court censors, but appeared later at Schaffhausen.
The Revolution of 1848 involved the loss of Hurter's position at Court, to which, however, he was restored in 1852. Till his death he laboured for the spread of Catholic religion, especially in connexion with the foreign mission field; he was also in close touch with the greatest scholars of the day. He was appointed by the pope a commander of the Order of St Gregory, and was a member of the academies of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, and Assisi
Assisi
- Churches :* The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi is a World Heritage Site. The Franciscan monastery, il Sacro Convento, and the lower and upper church of St Francis were begun immediately after his canonization in 1228, and completed in 1253...
.
Works
In addition to his Leben Innocenz III (4 vols., Hamburg, 1834-42), Hurter was the author of Denkwürdigkeiten aus dem letzten Dezennium des 18. Jahrhunderts (1840); Geburt and Widergeburt (Schaffhausen, 1845-46), an autobiography; Geschichte Kaiser Ferdinands II. und seiner Eltern (Schaffhausen, 1850-65); Philipp Lang, Kammerdiener Kaiser Rudolfs II. (Schaffhausen, 1851); Beiträge zur Geschichte Wallensteins (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1855); Französische Feindseligkeiten gegen Oesterreich zur Zeit des dreizigjährigen Krieges (Vienna, 1859); Wallensteins vier letzte Lebensjahre (1862).Heinrich von Hurter
Heinrich von Hurter (born at Schaffhausen, 8 August 1825; died at Vienna, 30 May 1895) was the son of the preceding. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1851, and later appointed to a benefice at Vienna. Besides volumes of sermons, his writings include the principal biography of his father, Friedrich von Hurter und seine Zeit (2 vols., 1876), as well as Konzil und Unfehlbarkeit (1870) and Schönheit und Wahrheit der katholischen Kirche (9 vols., 1871-78).Hugo von Hurter
Hugo Adalbert Ferdinand von Hurter, younger son of Friedrich (born at Schaffhausen, 11 January 1832; died 10 December 1914 at InnsbruckInnsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
) was a distinguished Roman Catholic theologian.
He was ordained priest in 1855. From 1849 to 1856 he studied at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, where he was made doctor of philosophy and theology. In 1857 he entered into the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, and after a brief residence in the college at Baumgarten was appointed in 1858 to the theological faculty of the University of Innsbruck as professor of dogmatic theology
Dogmatic theology
Dogmatic theology is that part of theology dealing with the theoretical truths of faith concerning God and his works, especially the official theology recognized by an organized Church body, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Dutch Reformed Church, etc...
(professor emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
after his retirement in 1903). Between 1887 and 1890 he was also Rector of the Jesuits' college in Innsbruck (the "Nicolaihaus", predecessor of the better-known Collegium Canisianum
Collegium Canisianum
The Collegium Canisianum or simply Canisianum in Innsbruck, Austria, is an international priests' seminary of the Roman Catholic church run by the Jesuits.-History:...
).
His chief works are: Theologiae dogmaticae compendium (3 vols., Innsbruck, 1876-78; 11th ed., 1903); Nomenclator literarius theologiae catholicae (3 vols., Innsbruck, 1871-86; 3rd ed., 5 vols., 1903); Medulla theologiae dogmaticae (2 vols., Innsbruck, 1870; 7th ed., 1902). He also edited the collection Selecta opuscula SS. Patrum (54 vols., 1868-92).