(A contribution to the 100-year Jubilee on July 25th, 2007)

DDr. Floridus Röhrig, Can. Reg.

Trans. by Clemens Galban, Can. Reg

Translator’s note: The following article was directed to those already aware of many of the background elements of religious life and its history, as well as Austrian history.  As some may not be aware of a few of these finer points, the following notes are offered.  In this article, the terms Stift, abbey and canonry all refer to the same entities. 

Congregation –In this context it refers to the grouping of canonries which follow the same body of constitutions. The constitutions as well as a house “customary” –book of customs, form vital legislation to supplement the Rule in governing the life of the canonries.  This phenomenon is also common to the Benedictines and Cistercians.  For more information on the various congregations mentioned below, see the "Congregations and Houses" page.

Josephinism –Emperor Joseph II’s (1765-1790) Enlightenment, Rationalist and anti-ecclesiastical policies.  With regard to religious houses, he either secularized them or forced them to take on “useful” works like parishes or schools. 

Concordat –A treaty between a largely Catholic nation and the Vatican, specifying the rights of the Church. 

Provincial council –The dioceses of the Church are divided into provinces, each of which holds periodic councils. 

Capitular –Solemnly professed member of a chapter of canons with seat and voice in the chapter.

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The Austrian canonries were able to form a congregation much later than most of the older Orders (Benedictines, Cistercians, et al.).  One of the reasons for this is that the regular canons arose out of episcopal monasteries and especially since the 11^th Century were involved in normal parish work.  This led naturally to a close relationship with and bond to the diocesan bishops.  On the other hand Austria faced special difficulties from “Josephinism”.  Although Josephinism was overturned with the Concordat of 1855, the bishops were actually not prepared to accept certain obvious consequences. 

In other countries, congregations of Augustinian canons were formed which would quickly become famous and exercise great influence on the spiritual development of the Church.  In the forefront of these was the Congregation of Windesheim, founded in 1395, which also influenced other unions (Groenendaal, Neuss, Sion, Neuwerk, et al.).  A second important group was the Congregation of Fregionaia which was called in 1445 by Pope Eugene IV to take over the Lateran basilica in Rome.  This congregation received the title “Congregation of the Lateran” and was endowed with many privileges. 

The development in Austria was different. Eusebius Amort, the well-known canon of Stift Polling and historian of the Order, tried in 1747 to form a common, general chapter of those canonries within the lands of the Holy Roman Empire, but this came to nothing.  Between 1681 and 1739 however, the individual Austrian canonries united themselves to the Lateran Congregation, though this was a union based upon privileges and mutual prayer but was without legal ramifications.  The canonries would remain subject to the diocesan bishops.  And Josephinism, which would soon rear its head, showed itself as an enemy of any form of exemption, making a union of monasteries (the number of which would be sharply reduced by Joseph’s dissolution of monasteries) impossible for decades to come. 

In a legal sense, the Concordat of 1855 brought an end to Josephinism.  Among other things, it gave the Orders freedom from the imposition of the will of the state and it allowed for the resumption of contact with Rome.  Already in 1852 during the protracted negotiations, Pope Pius IX ordered a general visitation of all Austrian monasteries.  The visitators named were the Archbishop of Salzburg, Cardinal Prince Fürstenberg (for the Austrian crown lands) and the Primate of Hungary, Cardinal Scitovsky (for the lands of the Hungarian crown).  Schwarzenberg tapped the Bishop of Linz, Franz Joseph Rudigier, to be his co-visitator for the Augustinian canonries.  He in turn chose the dean of Stift St. Florian, Jodok Stülz, to be his assistant.  The visitation brought positive results and supported the formation of a congregation, though needless to say this idea did not find universal approval in all canonries. 

In the framework of the Provincial Council convened in 1858, the abbots and provosts of the Vienna Ecclesiastical Province came to agreement on forming a congregation.  At the wish of the Roman Curia, however, the Austrian Augustinian canonries were to be united to the Lateran Congregation.  On the 13^th of March, 1859, there was an agreement reached, with the reservation however that Stift Cracow-Kasimierz could only be included without its dependencies in Russian occupied Poland.  Since the administrator of Cracow was unwilling to concede this, he traveled to Rome and pursued the reception of his house into the Lateran Congregation on his own initiative, achieving his purpose in 1861.  (The houses in Russia were nonetheless lost). 

At this point the provosts decided upon a union of the Austrian canonries with constitutions written by Dean Stülz.  The canonries would form an Austrian province of the Lateran Congregation, with a visitator elected from among the provosts (or abbots, as they would henceforth be called) at the head.  They remained firm on three points: 1) Free abbatial elections for life terms, 2) Retention of Stabilitas loci (vow of stability), 3) The independent economic administration of each canonry. 

However it was exactly these exceptions so fundamental for the Austrian canonries which gave offense in Rome, as they were diametrically opposed to the constitutions of the Lateran Congregation.  In the end the war which broke out in 1859 between Austria and Italy (Piedmont-Sardinia) ended any attempts at unification.  The war resulted in the occupation of all canonries within the lands of Piedmont, the conquest of the Papal States and the introduction of secularization throughout Italy.  The Austrian canonries remained subject to the diocesan bishops and resigned themselves to the situation until an unpleasant event made their lack of unity and exemption painful. 

The unintentional offense arose in Klosterneuburg.  There was a canon there, Dr. Karl Drexler, who functioned as master of the treasury and professor of philosophy.  Drexler was a respected Church historian, but he was also a person possessed of unbridled ambition.  He had connections even at the highest levels and wanted to become provost of the abbey, but he was aware that his brethren would never elect him.  Therefore he set an intrigue into motion.  After the death of Provost Ubald Kostersitz (1902), he managed to engineer the election as provost of the abbey’s dean, the kindly but intellectually inferior Bernhard Peitl.  He thoroughly dominated this man and even managed to convince him to voluntarily denounce himself and his abbey in Rome.  Drexler calculated that the Provost would be removed, a free election would be forbidden and that Rome would appoint him provost thanks to his connections. 

At first Drexler’s plan seemed to be working out; the papal Secretary of State requested a report on Klosterneuburg from the Archbishop of Vienna.  He in turn sent his auxiliary bishop, Godefried Marschall –a close friend of Drexler’s –to the abbey, where on his own authority he carried out a visitation in the year 1904.  Almost to a man, the canons had only complaints about the troublemaker Drexler, but Marschall withheld these and passed on only Drexler’s complaints to Rome. 

The Papal Secretariat of State was angry that Marschall had conducted a visitation and gave little credence to the results.  After this an apostolic visitation was ordered without further ado.  The implementation of this was entrusted to the former general of the Dominicans, Fr. Andreas Frühwirth, a native of Styria. 

The Visitator took his task very seriously.  He quickly saw through Drexler’s machinations and the latter withdrew to a parish belonging to the abbey, Leopoldau, where as a Lateran titular abbot he held pontifical Masses.  From then on he only occasionally attempted to disrupt the peace of the abbey.  Fr. Frühwirth saw as his primary task the writing of new statutes for the abbey.  Due to his conscientiousness, this process dragged on, wearing down the canons.  Provost Bernhard Peitl got himself so excited that on October 6^th, 1906 he suffered a heart attack.  Rome would not allow a new election before the visitation was completed. 

At this point the public became interested in the case.  The media spread the rumor that Italian monks were to be installed in Klosterneuburg.  Petitions were even brought before the Vienna City Council; the comic pages featured caricatures of the situation.  Fr. Frühwirth withdrew, enraged.  The process seemed to have completely lost its way. 

Then it came to mind that the formation of a congregation would be the means to bring the visitation to a satisfactory conclusion.  The other canonries, fearing as they must an intervention similar to that of Klosterneuburg, also favored the quickest possible formation of a congregation.  The provost of St. Florian, Joseph Sailer, called a conference of the provosts of the canonries for the 10^th of November, 1906 (the Dean with two of the brethren came from Klosterneuburg) in St. Florian.  The assembly quickly agreed upon the resolution to form an Austrian congregation of canons.  There was no more discussion of annexation by the Lateran Congregation as had been planned in 1859.  Before the petition was sent to Rome, each of the provosts sought the opinion of their capitulars regarding the plan for the congregation.  The results were everywhere positive. 

This time Rome worked very quickly.  By the 5^th of December, 1906, the Congregation of Bishops and Religious had approved the merger to an Austrian congregation of canons and named Provost Joseph Sailer of St. Florian as Praepositus delegatus [Provost Delegate].  He was given the task of leading the effort to develop the new constitutions and to send them on to Rome as soon as possible.  At the same time he was delegated as chairman for the provost’s election in Klosterneuburg. 

It seems that Rome was happy for the opportunity to conclude the painful episode of the visitation of Klosterneuburg in a way that was simple and honorable for both sides.  Already on the 11^th of December, 1906 Fr. Frühwirth’s mandate of visitation was declared concluded and the Visitator departed without a fuss.  The election of a provost of Klosterneuburg took place on the 9^th of January, 1907 under the chairmanship of the Provost of St. Florian.  Friedrich Piffl emerged as the new provost. 

Provost Sailer gave the work of developing the statutes to Professor Alois Pachinger of St. Florian.  He in turn managed this in relatively short order.  They are brief and clear and consist of two principle sections.  The first deals with the organization of the Order (abbot general, general chapter, visitations and provosts’ elections), while the second consists of declarations about the Rule of St. Augustine, ordered according to the chapters of the Rule.  These constitutions have two distinctions which later-composed statutes of Orders do not exhibit.  Firstly, they mention only the particular law of the Order and not the generally binding norms of canon law of the Church (which are obviously in force in any case).  This gives them the advantage of clarity. Secondly, the form of the “Declarations on the Rule” are very adaptable and not merely an expression of their time, similar to the old Corpus Iuris Canonici [Canon Law]. 

On the 25^th of July, 1907, in the name of Pope Pius X, the Austrian Congregation of Canons Regular of the Lateran was formally erected by the Congregation for Bishops and Religious and its statutes approved without alteration ad experimentum [as an experiment].  The Nuncio to Vienna could report this to St. Florian already on July 11^th, 1907.  On the 10^th of September the General Chapter convened for the first time in St. Florian and elected Provost Joseph Sailer of St. Florian as first Abbot General.  Provost Frigdian Schmolk of Herzogenburg was elected as his co-visitator.  Schmolk was the Marshall of Lower Austria and numbered amongst the most prominent personalities in public life.  The election was confirmed by Rome on the 30^th of September.