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Bible Encyclopedias
Augsburg
The Catholic Encyclopedia
or Diocese in the Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising, embracing the entire government district of Swabia and Neuburg, the western part of the government district of Upper Bavaria, and a small part of the government district of Central Franconia.
History
Early period
The present city of Augsburg appears in Strabo as Damasia, a stronghold of the Licatii; in 14 B.C. it became a Roman colony known as Augusta Vindelicorum, received the rights of a city from Hadrian and soon became of great importance as an arsenal and the point of junction of several important trade routes. The beginnings of Christianity within the limits of the present diocese are shrouded in obscurity its teachings were probably brought thither by soldiers or merchants. According to the acts of the martyrdom of St. Afra, who with her handmaids suffered at the stake for Christ, there existed in Augsburg, early in the fourth century, a Christian community under Bishop Narcissus; St. Dionysius, uncle of St. Afra, is mentioned as his Successor.
Medieval period
Nothing authentic is known about the history of the Augsburg Church during the centuries immediately succeeding, but it survived the collapse of Roman power in Germany and the turbulence of the great migrations. It is true that two catalogues of the Bishops of Augsburg, dating from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, mention several bishops of this primitive period, but the first whose record has received indubitable historical corroboration is St. Wikterp (or Wichpert) who was bishop about 739 or 768. He took part in several synods convened by St. Boniface in Germany; in company with St. Magnus, he founded the monastery of Füssen; and with St. Boniface he dedicated the monastery at Benediktbeuren. Under either St. Wikterp or his successor, Tazzo (or Tozzo), about whom little is known, many monasteries were established, e.g. Wessobrunn, Ellwangen, Polling, Ottobeuren. At this time, also, the see, hitherto suffragan to the Patriarchate of Aquileia, was placed among the suffragan sees of the newly founded Archdiocese of Mainz (746). St. Sintpert (c. 810), hitherto Abbot of the monastery of Murbach, and a relative of Charlemagne, renovated many churches and monasteries laid waste in the wars of the Franks and Bavarians, and during the incursions of the Avari; he built the first cathedral of Augsburg in honour of the Most Blessed Virgin; and obtained from the Emperor Charlemagne an exact definition of his diocesan limits. His jurisdiction extended at that time from the Iller eastward over the Lech, north of the Danube to the Alb, and south to the spurs of the Alps. Moreover, various estates and villages in the valley of the Danube, and in the Tyrol, belonged to the diocese. Among the bishops of the following period a certain number are especially prominent, either on account of the offices they filled in the Empire, or for their personal qualifications; thus Witgar (887-87), Chancellor and Archchaplain of Louis the German; Adalbero (887-910), of the line of the Counts of Dillingen, confidant and friend of Emperor Arnulf, who entrusted Adalbero with the education of his son, the German King Louis the Child, distinguished for generosity to the monasteries. The See of Augsburg reached the period of its greatest splendor under St. Ulrich (923-973); he raised the standard of training and discipline among the clergy by the reformation of existing schools and the establishment of new ones, and by canonical visitations and synods; he provided for the poor, and rebuilt decayed churches and monasteries. During the incursion of the Hungarians and the siege of Augsburg (955), he sustained the courage of the citizens, compelled the Hungarians to withdraw, and contributed much to the decisive victory on the Lechfeld (955). He built churches in honor of St. Afra and St. John, founded the monastery of St. Stephen for Benedictine nuns, and undertook three pilgrimages to Rome. The diocese suffered much during the episcopate of his successor, Henry I (973-982), for he sided with the foes of Emperor Otto II, and remained for several months in prison. After his liberation he renounced his former views and bequeathed to his church his possessions at Geisenhausen. The diocese attained great splendor under Bishop Bruno (1006-20), brother of Emperor Henry II; he restored a number of ruined monasteries, founded the church and college of St. Maurice, placed Benedictine monks in the collegiate church of St. Afra, and added to the episcopal possessions by the gift of his own inheritance of Straubing. Under Bishop Henry II (1047-63), the guardian of Henry IV, the diocese secured the right of coinage was enriched by many donations; under Embrico (or Emmerich, 1063-77) the cathedral was dedicated (1065) and the canonicate and church of St. Peter and St. Felicitas were built. During the last years of his episcopate the quarrel of Emperor Henry IV with the papacy in which Embrico took the imperial side and only temporarily yielded to the papal legate. The struggle continued under his successors; four anti-bishops were set up in opposition to Siegfried II (1077-96). Hermann, Count von Vohburg (1096 or 1097-1132) supported with treachery and cunning his claim to the see he had purchased, violently persecuted the Abbot of St. Afra, and expelled him from the city. Only after the conclusion of the Concordat of Worms (1122) did Hermann obtain the confirmation of the pope and relief from excommunication. The political disturbances resulting from the dissensions between the popes and the German emperors reacted on the Church of Augsburg. There were short periods of rest, during which ecclesiastical life received a forward impulse, as, for instance, under Bishop Walther II Count Palatine von Dillingen (1133-52), under whom the possessions of the diocese were again consolidated and increased by his own inheritance; under Udalskalk (1184-1202), who with great ceremony placed the recently discovered bones of St. Ulrich in the new church of Sts. Ulrich and Afra. These days of peace alternated with periods of conflict into which the Bishops of Augsburg were drawn, often against their will, in their capacity as Princes of the Empire, and the life of the Church accordingly suffered decline. Under Siboto von Lechfeld (1227-47) monasteries of the newly founded mendicant orders were first established in Augsburg. A celebrated member of the Franciscans was David of Augsburg, and of the Dominicans, Albertus Magnus of Lauingen. Additional causes of conflict were the troubles that arose between the Bishops of Augsburg and the city authorities. During the struggles between the popes and the emperors, Augsburg like other large cities throughout the greater part of Germany, attained enormous wealth, owing to the industrial and commercial activity of the citizens. From time to time efforts were made to restrict as much as possible the ancient civil rights of the bishops and their stewards, and even to abrogate them entirely. From a state of discontent the citizens passed to open violence under the Bishop Hartmann von Dillingen (1248-86), and wrung from the bishops many municipal liberties and advantages. A characteristic instance is the confirmation by Emperor Rudolph of Habsburg at the Reichstag held in Augsburg (1276) of the Stadtbuch, or municipal register, containing the ancient customs, episcopal and municipal rights, etc., specified in detail; on the same occasion Augsburg was recognized as a Free City of the Empire. Hartmann bequeathed to the Church of Augsburg his paternal inheritance, including the town and castle of Dillingen. Peace reigned under the succeeding bishops, of whom Frederick I (1309-31) acquired for his see the castle and stronghold of Füssen; Ulrich II, von Schoneck (1331-37), and his brother Henry III (1337-48) remained faithful to Emperor Louis the Bavarian, Markward I, von Randeck (1348-65), again redeemed the mortgaged property of the diocese, and by the favor of Emperor Charles IV was made Patriarch of Aquileia (1365). New dissensions between the Bishop and the city arose under Burkhard von Ellerbach (1373-1404), whose accession was marked by grave discord growing out of the overthrow of the Patrizier, or aristocratic government, and the rise in municipal power of the crafts or guilds. Irritated by Burkhard's support of the nobility in their struggle with the Swabian cities, the inhabitants of Augsburg plundered the dwellings of the canons, drove some of the clergy from the city (1381), destroyed, after a short interval of respite (1388), the episcopal strong-hold, the deanery, and the mint, and became almost completely independent of the bishop. Burkhard proceeded with great energy against the heresy of the Wyclifites who had gained a foothold in Augsburg and condemned to the stake five persons refused to abjure. After the death of Eberhard II (1404-13), a quarrel arose in 1413 because the city of Augsburg declined to recognize the lawful Bishop, Anselm von Nenningen (1413-23), and set up in opposition Friedrich von Grafeneek who had been presented by Emperor Sigismund. This trouble was settled by Pope Martin V, who compelled both bishops to resign, and on his own authority replaced them by Peter von Schauenberg, Canon of Bamberg and Würzburg (1423-69). Peter was endowed by the Pope with extraordinary faculties, made cardinal and legate a latere for all Germany. He worked with zeal and energy for the reformation of his diocese, held synods and made episcopal visitations in order to raise the decadent moral and intellectual life of the clergy; he restored the discipline and renewed the fallen splendor of many monasteries, canonries and collegiate churches. He completed the rebuilding of the cathedral in Gothic style, consecrated it in 1431 and in 1457 laid the cornerstone of the new church of Sts. Ulrich and Afra. Succeeding prelates carried on the reformation of the diocese with no less solicitude and zeal. Among them were Johann II, Count of Werdenberg (1469-86), tutor to the emperor's son, afterwards Emperor Maximilian I, who convened a synod in Dillingen, and encouraged the recently invented art of printing; Friedrich von Zollern (1486-1505) pupil of the great preacher Geiler von Kaysersberg, and founder of a college in Dillingen, who held a synod in the same city, promoted the printing of liturgical books, and greatly enriched the possessions of the diocese; Henry IV, von Lichtenau (1505-17), a great friend and benefactor of monasteries and of the poor, and patron of the arts and sciences. During the episcopate of these bishops Augsburg acquired through the industry of its citizens, a world-wide commerce. Some members of its families, e.g. the Fuggers and the Welsers, were the greatest merchants of their time; they lent large sums of money to the emperors and princes of Germany, conducted the financial enterprises of the papacy, and even extended their operations to the newly discovered continent of America. Among the citizens of Augsburg famous at that time in literature and art were the humanist Conrad Peutinger; the brothers Bernard and Conrad Adelmann von Adelmannsfelden; Matthias Lang, secretary to Emperor Frederick III, and later Cardinal and Archbishop of Salzburg; the distinguished painters Holbein the elder, Burgkmair and others. With wealth, however, came a spirit of worldliness and cupidity. Pride and a super-refinement of culture furnished the rank soil in which the impending religious revolution was to find abundant nourishment. The Reformation brought disaster on the Diocese of Augsburg. It included 1,050 parishes with more than 500,000 inhabitants. Besides the cathedral chapter it could boast eight collegiate foundations, forty-six monasteries for men, and thirty-eight convents for women. Luther, who was summoned to vindicate himself in the presence of the papal legate before the Reichstag at Augsburg (1518), found enthusiastic adherents in this diocese among both the secular and regular clergy, but especially among the Carmelites, in whose convent of St. Anne he dwelt; he also found favor among the city councillors, burghers, and tradesmen. Bishop Christopher von Stadion (1517-43) did all in his power to arrest the spread of the now teachings; he called learned men to the pulpit of the cathedral, among others Urbanus Rhegius, who, however, soon went over to Luther; he convened a synod at Dillingen, at which it was forbidden to read Luther's writings; he promulgated throughout his diocese the Bull of Leo X (1520) against Luther; he forbade the Carmelites, who were spreading the new doctrine, to preach; he warned the magistrates of Augsburg, Memmingen, and other places not to tolerate the reformers, and he adopted other similar measures. Despite all this, the followers of Luther obtained the upper hand in the city council, and by 1524, various Catholic ecclesiastical usages, notably the observance of fast days, had been abolished in Augsburg. The apostate priests, many of whom, after Luther's example, had taken wives, were supported by the city council, and the Catholics were denied the right of preaching. The Anabaptists also gained a strong following and added fuel to the fire of the Peasants' War, in which many monasteries, institutions, and castles were destroyed. At the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, at which the so-called Augsburg Confession was delivered to Emperor V in the chapel of the episcopal palace, the emperor issued an edict according to which all innovations were to be abolished, and Catholics reinstated in their rights and property. The city council, however, set itself up in opposition, recalled (1531) the Protestant preachers who had been expatriated, suppressed Catholic services in all churches except the cathedral (1534), and in 1537 joined the League of Smalkald. At the beginning of this year a decree of the council was made, forbidding everywhere the celebration of Mass, preaching, and all ecclesiastical ceremonies, and giving to the Catholic clergy the alternative of enrolling themselves anew as citizens or leaving the city. An overwhelming majority of both secular and regular clergy chose banishment; the bishop withdrew with the cathedral chapter to Dillingen, whence he addressed to the pope and the emperor an appeal for the redress of his grievances. In the city of Augsburg the Catholic churches were seized by Lutheran and Zwinglian preachers; at the command of the council pictures were removed, and at the instigation of Bucer and others a disgraceful storm of popular iconoclasm followed, resulting in the destruction of many splendid monuments of art and antiquity. The greatest intolerance was exercised towards the Catholics who had remained in the city; their schools were dissolved; parents were compelled to send their children to Lutheran institutions; it was even forbidden to hear Mass outside the city under severe penalties. Under Otto Truchsess von Waldburg (1543-73) the first signs of improvement were noted in the attitude towards Catholics. At the outbreak of hostilities (1546) between the emperor and the League of Smalkald, Augsburg, as a member of the league, took up arms against Charles V, and Bishop Otto invested and plundered Füssen, and confiscated nearly all the remaining possessions of the diocese. After the victory at Muhlberg (1547), however, the imperial troops marched against Augsburg, and the city was forced to beg for mercy, surrender twelve pieces of artillery, pay a fine, restore the greater number of churches to the Catholics and reimburse the diocese and the clergy for property confiscated. In 1547 the Bishop, Otto von Truchsess, who had meanwhile been created a cardinal returned to the city with the cathedral chapter, followed shortly after by the emperor. At the Diet held at Augsburg in 1548 the so-called "Augsburg Interim" was arranged. After a temporary occupation of the city and suppression of Catholic services by the Elector, Prince Maurice of Saxony (1551), the "Religious Peace of Augsburg" was concluded at the Diet of 1555; it was followed by a long period of peace. The disturbances of the Reformation were more disastrous in their results throughout the diocese and adjoining lands than within the immediate precincts of Augsburg. Thus, after many perturbations and temporary restorations of the Catholic religion, the Protestants finally gained the upper hand in Würtemberg, Oettingen, Neuburg, the free cities of Nördlingen, Memmingen, Kaufbeuren, Dinkelsbuhl, Donauwörth, Ulm, in the ecclesiastical territory of Feuchtwangen and elsewhere. Altogether during these years of religious warfare the Diocese of Augsburg lost to the Reformation about 250 parishes, 24 monasteries, and over 500 benefices. Although the religious upheaval brought with it a great loss of worldly possessions, it was not without beneficial effect on religious life of the diocese. Bishop Christopher von Stadion while trying to protect Catholicism from the inroads of the Reformation, had sought to strengthen and revive ecclesiastical disciple, which had sadly declined, among both the secular and regular clergy. The work was carried on even more energetically by Bishop Otto Truchsess, who achieved a fruitful counter-reformation. By frequent visitations he sought to become familiar with existing evils, and by means of diocesan synods and a vigorous enforcement of measures against ignorant and dissolute clerics, secular and regular, he endeavored to remedy these conditions. He advanced the cause of education by founding schools; he summoned the Jesuits to his diocese, among others , who from 1549, in the capacity, of cathedral preacher, confessor, and catechist, exercised a remarkable fruitful and efficacious ministry. In 1549 Bishop Otto founded a seminary in Dillingen for the training of priests, obtained from the pope (1554) a decree raising it to the rank of a university, and in 1564 gave the direction of the new university to the Jesuits, for whom he had built a college in Dillingen. It is due to his untiring labours and those of Canisius that much larger portions of the diocese were not lost to the Church. Under the immediate successors of Otto the revival instituted by him progressed rapidly, and many excellent decrees were formulated. Under Marquard II von Berg (1575-91) a pontifical boarding school (alumnatus) was founded in Dillingen, colleges were established by the Jesuits in Landsberg, and through the bounty of the Fugger family, in Augsburg (1580). Heinrich von Knoringen, made bishop at the early age of twenty-eight, took especial interest in the university and the Seminary of Dillingen, both of which he enriched with many endowments; he convened several synods, converted Duke Wolfgang of Neuburg to Catholicism, and during his long episcopate (1598-1646) reconciled many Protestant cities and parishes to the Catholic Church, being aided in a particular manner by the Jesuits, for whom he founded establishments in Neuburg, Memmingen, and Kaufbeuren. By means of the Edict of Restitution of Emperor Ferdinand II (1629), vigorously and even too forcefully executed by the bishop, the Thirty Years' War first accomplished an almost complete restoration of the former possessions of the Diocese of Augsburg. The occupation of Augsburg by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1632) restored temporarily the balance of power to the Protestants. Until the relief of the city by the imperial troops (1635) the Catholics were hard pressed and were forced to give up all they had gained by the Edict of Restitution. Finally the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) established equality between Catholics and Protestants, and was followed by a long period of internal peace. On account of the losses entailed on the diocese by the treaty, a solemn protest was laid before the imperial chancery by Bishop Sigmund Franz, Archduke of Austria (1646-65). This bishop on account of his youth, ruled the diocese through administrators, and later resigned his office. His successor, Johann Christopher von Freiberg (1665-90), was particularly desirous of liquidating the heavy burden of debt borne by the chapter, but was nevertheless generous towards churches and monasteries. His successor, Alexander Sigmund (1690-1737), son of the Palatine Elector, guarded the purity of doctrine in liturgical, books and prayerbooks. Johann Friedrich von Stauffenberg (1737-40) founded the Seminary of Meersbury and introduced missions among the people. Joseph, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1740-68) exhumed with great ceremony the bones of St. Ulrich and instituted an investigation into the life of Crescentia Hoss of Kaufbeuren, who died in the odour of sanctity. Klemens Wenzeslaus, Prince of Saxony and Poland (1768-1812), made a great number of excellent disciplinary regulations, and took measures for their execution; after the suppression of the Society of Jesus he afforded its members protection and employment in his diocese; he made a vigorous resistance to the rapidly spreading Rationalism and infidelity, and was honored by a visit from Pope Pius VI (1782). During this episcopate began the world-wide upheaval inaugurated by the French Revolution. It was destined to put an end to the temporal power of the Church in Germany, and to bring about the fall of Augsburg from the dignity of a principality of the Empire. In 1802, by act of the Delegation of the Imperial Diet (Reichsdeputationsrezess), the territory of the Diocese of Augsburg was given to the Elector of Bavaria, who took possession 1 December, 1802. The cathedral chapter, together with forty canonicates, forty-one benefices, nine colleges, twenty-five abbeys, thirty-four monasteries of the mendicant orders, and two convents were the victims of this act of secularization. Unfortunately, owing to the inconsiderate conduct of the commissioners appointed by the Bavarian minister, Montgelas, innumerable artistic treasures, valuable books, and documents were destroyed. For five years after the death of the last bishop of princely rank (1812) the episcopal see remained vacant; the parts of the diocese lying outside of Bavaria were separated from it and annexed to other dioceses. It was not until 1817 that the Concordat between the Holy See and the Bavarian government reconstructed the Diocese of Augsburg, and made it subject to the Metropolitan of Munich-Freising. In 1821 the territory subject to the ecclesiastical authority of Augsburg was increased by the addition of sections of the suppressed See of Constance, and the present limits were then defined. As the new bishop, Franz Karl von Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst, died (1819) before assuming office, and Joseph Maria von Fraunberg was soon called to the archiepiscopal See of Bamberg, there devolved upon their successors the important task of rearranging the external conditions and reanimating religious life, which had suffered sorely. Ignatius Albert von Riegg (1824-36) was successful in his endeavors to further the interests of souls, to raise the standard of popular education through the medium of numerous ordinances and frequent visitations. He assigned the administration and direction of studies in the Lyceum to the monks of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Stephen in Augsburg, founded by King Ludwig (1834). Petrus von Richarz (1837-55) displayed energy and persistent zeal in promoting the interests of his diocese and the Catholic Church in general, and encouraged the giving of missions to the people, the establishment of many religious institutions for the care of the sick and for educational purposes, and carefully superintended the training of the clergy. The same spirit characterized the labours of the succeeding bishops: Michael von Deinlein (1856-58), who after a short episcopate was raised to the Archbishopric of Bamberg; Pankratius von Dinkel (1858-94), under whom both seminaries and the deaf and dumb asylum were established in Dillingen, and many monastic institutions were founded; Petrus von Hotzl (1895-1902) whose episcopate was marked by the attention paid to social and intellectual pursuits, and the number of missions given among the people as well as by the solemn celebration of the beatification of the pious nun Crescentia Hoss. He was succeeded by Maximilian von Lingg, born at Nesselwang, 8 March, 1842; ordained priest, 22 July, 1865; appointed bishop, 18 March, 1902, consecrated, 20 July, 1002. According to the census of 1 December, 1900, the Diocese of Augsburg contained 777,958 Catholics and about 100,000 of other beliefs; at present there are about 818,074 Catholics. Socially, the population is chiefly of the middle class; recently, however, on account of the greater growth of the industrial arts in the city of Augsburg in Lechhausen, Memmingen, and other places, the working classes are increasing in numbers. Leaving out of consideration the larger cities, in which the various denominations are well represented, it may be said that the southern part of the diocese, Algau and the adjoining parts of Altbayern (Bavaria proper), are almost entirely Catholic, while in the northern part a mixture of creeds predominates. That small portion of Mittelfranken (Fran-conia) which belongs to the, diocese, is overwhelmingly Protestant. The relations between the various religious denominations are in general friendly and peaceable. For the work of sacred ministry the diocese is divided into 40 deaneries (1 city deanery at Augsburg, and 39 rural deaneries), with 862 parishes, 31 parochial curacies, 16 curacies, 226 benefices, 6 preaching-offices (Prädikaturen), 227 chaplaincies. In general each parish is complete and independent; but in the mountainous southern section there are many parishes, to which are attached from fifty to a hundred dependent churches (Filiakirchen). The cathedral chapter consists of the provost of the cathedral, a dean of the cathedral, 8 canons and 6 vicars. In 1907 the clergy of the diocese numbered 1,439: 815 parish priests and parochial curates, 49 parochial vicars, 11 curates, 73 beneficed clergymen, 53 vicars of benefices, 180 chaplains and assistant priests, 49 prebendaries and clerical professors (not including the professors of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Stephen in Augsburg); 74 priests temporarily stationed in the diocese, 95 regulars, 40 priests engaged in other dioceses or on missions. Of the religious orders of men there are the following establishments: Benedictines, 3 (Augsburg, Andechs, Ottobeuren), with 33 priests, 6 clerics, 56 lay brothers; Mission Society of St. Benedict, I (St. Ottilien), with 36 priests (12 at present outside the diocese), 31 clerics, 117 lay brothers; Franciscans, 3, with 7 priests and 22 lay brothers; Capuchins, 5, with 28 priests, 15 clerics, and 37 lay brothers; Brothers of Mercy, 6, with 4 priests and 54 lay brothers. Altogether there are 18 establishments conducted by the male orders, with 108 priests, 55 clerics, and 286 lay brothers. Far more numerous are the female orders and religious congregations; they number 226 establishments and branches, with 2,815 members. They are: Sisters of Mercy of St. Vincent de Paul, 59 houses, with 302 sisters; Franciscans, with their mother-houses at Augsburg, Dillingen, Kaufbeuren, and Mindelheim, 71 establishments, with 735 sisters; Arme Franziskanerinnen with mother-house at Mallersdorf, 34 establishments, with 171 sisters; Englische Fräulein (English Ladies), 11 convents with 311 ladies, 160 lay sisters, and 43 novices; Dominican nuns, 11 convents with 271 choir sisters, 17 lay sisters, and 36 novices; Poor School Sisters, 21 foundations with 166 sisters, Elisabetherinnen (Sisters of St. Elizabeth), 4 foundations with 41 sisters and 5 novices; Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer with their mother-house at Oberbronn in Alsace, 61 foundations with 24 sisters; Cistercian nuns, 1 convent with 29 choir nuns, 15 lay sisters, and 2 novices; Mission Sisters of St. Benedict, 1 convent with 65 sisters and 9 novices; Sisters of St. Joseph of Ursberg, 7 foundations with 231 sisters and 92 novices. As the primary schools in Bavaria are the property of the local civic corporation and under State control, there are no parochial schools in the strict sense of the word, According to the Bavarian Constitution of 1818 nothing move is assured to the Church than the direction of religious instruction and the surveillance of religious life in the school. She exercises this right in 1,074 primary schools of the Diocese of Augsburg, by means of 6 ecclesiastical county (Bezirk) school-inspectors and 50 ecclesiastical district school-inspectors. However, in many of the girls' schools (Mädchenschulen) the direction of studies is confined entirely to religious societies under State inspection. Thus the Poor School Sisters have charge of the studies in 19 schools, the Franciscans in 35, the Dominican nuns in 11, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Ursberg in 3; the English Ladies are excellent teachers for the higher education of women, and conduct 11 institutes for girls. For the training of priests there are the Lyceum and the Diocesan Seminary for ecclesiastics at Dillingen; the Diocesan Seminary for boys at Dillingen; St. Stephen's Catholic House of Studies at Augsburg, under the direction of the Benedictines, which includes a Lyceum, a classical Gymnasium a royal seminary of studies and an institute for higher education; there are besides about forty students of the diocese of Augsburg who dwell in the Georgianum at Munich and attend the courses of the,University. The state, or communal, institutions of higher studies for boys number 28 in the Diocese of Augsburg; 5 gymnasia, 1 Realgymnasium, 1 seminary of studies, 5 Progymnasia 2, Latin schools, 7 Realschulen, 3 agricultural winter schools, 1 Realschule with Latin, 1 normal school, and 2 preparatory schools. We must also mention the Cassianeum in Donauworth, a Catholic institute of pedagogy, which includes a training-school, a publishing house for books and periodicals, a printing press and other appurtenances. In all of these institutions Catholic instruction is given to Catholic students by Catholic clergymen. The charitable institutions of the diocese are for the most part the property of the civic parishes or the unions (Vereine), or local associations; they are administered, however, mostly by religious communities to whom is also confided the care of the sick, or children, and of the aged. There are 37 hospitals, 424 infirmaries, 12 protectories, 2 asylums for children, 8 orphanages, 3 institutions for the deaf and dumb, 12 houses for the poor and orphans, 3 poorhouses, 1 hospital for Priests 1 home for invalids, 3 institutions for servants under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin (Marienanstalten), 1 House of St. Anne (Annastift) for the factory girls in Augsburg, 1 House of St. Elizabeth for incurables, 5 institutions for various other purposes (e.g. the Kneippianum in Worishofen). One Catholic institution of Augsburg deserves special mention: the Fuggerei, founded in 1519 by three brothers (Ulrich, Georg, and Jakob) of the Fuggers. It consists of an extensive block of 53 houses with 106 apartments; in accordance with the conditions of the foundation these must be let at a very small rent to indigent cut people. It is a noble and durable memorial of the spirit of Christian charity that abounded in the Catholic Middle Ages. In recent times other works of Christian charity have been inaugurated. The good priest and superintendent of studies (Regens), Father Wagner of Dillingen, established many institutions for the deaf, dumb, and blind; Father Ringeisen, parish priest of Ursberg, established there the Sisters of St. Joseph for the exercise of every form of charity. For aged and infirm priests there exists a fund with 1,277 subscribers and a reserve of 1,550,000 marks ($387,500). There is also an association for the support of infirm priests, with 792 members and a fund of 26,000 marks ($6,500). Prominent among the numerous social-political and religious associations of the diocese are 16 Catholic apprentices unions, (Lehrlingsvereine), the local union in Augsburg maintaining its own home for apprentices; 49 Catholic journeymen's unions (Gesellenvereine), 4 Unions of St Joseph; 52 Catholic workingmen's unions; 19 Catholic students' clubs; 3 Catholic clubs for working women, with 504 members; 7 Catholic "Patronages" for working people; the Ulrich-union for the support of seminaries; the Men's Catholic Association, the Christian Peasants' League; the Cecilian Club; St. Mary's Protectory for girls; the Young Women's Association, and the Association of Christian Mothers. Annual pilgrimages give visible evidence of the vigorous religious life of the diocese. Such pilgrimages are those of the Holy Cross (11 May) and to the tomb of St. Ulrich at Augsburg (4 July). There are also processions to the holy mountain of Andechs during the rogation days, and to the monastery of Lechfeld since the year of the cholera (1854). Other pilgrimages are those to the relics of St. Rasso at Grafrath, to the church of the Holy Sepulcher (Unsers Herrn Ruh) near Friedberg, and to Maria Siebeneich. Among the ecclesiastical monuments of the Diocese of Augsburg the cathedral holds first place. It was begun in the Roman style in 994, dedicated 1010, and remodeled, 1331-1431, into a Gothic church with five naves; it was then that the lofty east choir with its circle of chapels was added. The towers were increased in height in 1488-89 and 1564. Among the innumerable art treasures of the cathedral may be mentioned the vestments of St. Ulrich; the tour altars with paintings by the elder Holbein illustrating the life of the Blessed Virgin; the celebrated bronze doors of the left lateral nave, adorned with remark able reliefs, and dating from the first half of the eleventh century; the ancient stained windows, some of which back to the eleventh and twelfth centuries; the interesting tombs and slabs of the fourteenth and succeeding centuries, both in the cathedral itself and in the adjoining cloister, and many other objects of value and interest. The church of Sts. Ulrich and Afra, built 1467-1594, in the Gothic style, contains the tomb of St. Ulrich, the stone sarcophagus of St. Afra, the Fugger chapel with the memorial to Hans Fugger, and three magnificent altars in rococo style. The late Gothic church of the Holy Cross was renovated, early in the eighteenth century, in florid Roman rococo style, and is a favorite place of pilgrimage. Among the chief ecclesiastical edifices outside the city of Augsburg are the Romanesque basilicas of Altenstadt, Ursberg, Thierhaupten; the Gothic churches of Kaisheim, Dinkelsbuhl, Donauworth, Landsberg; the ancient abbey-churches of Andechs (very rich in relies and costly reliquaries), Benediktbeuren, Diessen, Füssen, Kempten, Ottobeuren, and Wessobrunn, all restored and ornamented in sumptuous barocco or rococo style.Reformation period
French Revolution and secularization
The nineteenth century
Religious statistics
Education
Charitable institutions
Ecclesiastical art and monuments
These files are public domain.
Obstat, Nihil. Lafort, Remy, Censor. Entry for 'Augsburg'. The Catholic Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/a/augsburg.html. Robert Appleton Company. New York. 1914.
