Stella Matutina (Jesuit school)

Stella Matutina in Feldkirch, Austria, was a Jesuit school from 1651-1773 and from 1856-1979.

Short history

The “Kolleg” began in 1649 but opened formally in 1651. In 1773, when Pope Clement XIV discontinued the order of the Society of Jesus, the school closed. [Josef Knünz SJ 100 Jahre Stella Matutina 1856-1956 J.N.Teutsch, Bregenz 1956; p.10] It was reopened under Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria in 1856 with the support of Pope Pius IX and operated until 1938, when the Nazis forced the closing of the school. [Josef Knünz SJ 100 Jahre Stella Matutina 1856-1956 J.N.Teutsch, Bregenz 1956; p.149] With the help of French occupation forces, headed by a former student, Stella Matutina reopened in 1946, it continued until 1979.

Stalking Play and Soccer

According to Feldkirch authorities, in the late 19. century, English students introduced soccer to the Stella, and thus to Austria. [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feldkirch#Wiege_des_.C3.B6sterreichischen_Fu.C3.9Fballs] This is debatable. From 1856 on, sports at the Stella was dominated by the now defunct stalking play, "soccer on stalks". The stalks, 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 stalks and particularly by striking the ball with them. Alois Koch Play and Sport at the Jesuit College "Stella Matutina" in Feldkirch, p.18]
** "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 stalking play "was played with fanaticism" there were dangerous wounds: broken legs, lost teeth etc. . And there were always quarrels among the players: "They hit with the stalks."

Because of these violent consequences, Stalking play was forbidden at the Stella Matutina and the "entombment of the stalks 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 soccer, the players were allowed to use hands and there was no referee. [Alois Koch, Play and Sport at the Jesuit College "Stella Matutina" in Feldkirch p.19]

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 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. [Stella Matutina Jahresbericht 1912, 31] 120 years ago, 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 games in winter times [Stella Matutina Jahresbericht, 1909, p. 29)] .

cholarship

Before 1914, Stella Matutina was a truly international school with Jesuit Professors and Students from the USA, England, Ireland, Italy, France, the many regions of Austria-Hungary, Germany and Switzerland. Josef Knünz SJ 100 Jahre Stella Matutina 1856-1956 J.N.Teutsch, Bregenz 1956; p.178] The conversational language was Latin. The Jesuit professors were expected to publish in their respective fields and not a few of them taught at the Gregorian University after of before they were at the Stella. A 1931 volume of twenty-six publications shows a wide range of topics, from theology to law and natural sciences; [Stella Matutina (Hrsg.), introduction Band I Abhandlungen von Mitgliedern des Lehrkörpers]

The Stella Matutina scholars were recognized at the time. Achille Ratti, later on Pope Pius XI and Ludwig von Pastor went to Feldkirch to conduct joint research with Jesuit professors of the Stella. [Stella Matutina (Hrsg.), introduction Band III: Stellazeiten und Stellaleben, geschildert von Zöglingen mit 103 Bildtafeln V;] After the outbreak of World War One, the Stella lost much of its international flair and educated mainly students from German speaking counties among them much of the Catholic aristocracy. The religious spirit of Stella Matutina manifested itself in the occupational choices after graduation. Over twenty of the graduates (1896-1938) entered the priesthood, many of them the order of the Jesuits. [Josef Knünz SJ 100 Jahre Stella Matutina 1856-1956 J.N.Teutsch, Bregenz 1956; p.180]

Famous alummi

Stella Matutina had a serious of well known professors and educators Index of Names, Stella Matutina (Hrsg.) 75 Jahre Stella Matutina Band III: Stellazeiten und Stellaleben, geschildert von Zöglingen mit 103 Bildtafeln] ; among them, Franz Xavier Wernz, the General of the Jesuit Order; the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar; Cardinal Franz Ehrle; Professor and Rector of Innsbruck University, Hugo Rahner; social reformer Pesch; Max Pribilla, and Erich Przywara liberal authors; Papal advisor, scholar and superior, Otto Faller. Resistance fighters against the Nazis the martys Alfred Delp and Alois Grimm; others survived concentration camps, Friedrich Muckermann and Augustin Rösch. Professors Oswald von Nell-Breuning and Rudolf Cornely.Some of them were previous students, such as Jesuit General Franz Xavier Wernz and Cardinal Franz Ehrle also Professor Johann Baptist Singenberger. ;

Other Stella Matutina students included: The President of the German Catholic Association, Aloys Prinz zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg; "The Lion of Münster", Blessed Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen and the last Chancellor of Austria before the Adolf Hitler take-over in 1938, Kurt Schuschnigg

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, ISBN 978-3902525-52-9
* Otto Faller 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