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The Challenge of Industrialization: The Catholic Church and the Working Class in and around Vienna, 1815–1848

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Bertram M. Gordon
Bertram M. Gordon*
Affiliation:
Mills College
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Extract

The period from the fall of Napoleon in 1815 to the March, 1848, Revolution brought to the Habsburg empire the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, with all its attendant social evils. Increasing poverty, vice, and crime presented a growing challenge to the Catholic clergy, traditionally the custodians of moral standards in the monarchy. In the larger cities, most notably in Vienna, priests and bishops could no longer ignore the social problems arising in the expanding industrial towns. This study seeks to explore the extent to which Austrian churchmen, particularly those in the archdiocese of Vienna, where the greatest industrial activity occurred, involved themselves in the problems of the increasing numbers of factory workers in the new towns surrounding the capital during the period before 1848.

Type
Research Article
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 9 , January 1973 , pp. 123 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1973

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References

1 Jerome, Blum, “Transportation and Industry in Austria, 1815–1848,” The Journal of Modem History, Vol. XV (1943), pp. 26–29 Google Scholar and 31–32. See also Zenker, Ernst Victor, Die Wiener Revolution 1848 in ihren sozialen Voraussetzungen und Beziehungen (Vienna: A. Hartleben's Verlag, 1897), pp. 28–31 Google Scholar and 43–44.

2 Johann, Slokar, Geschichte der österreichischen Industrie und ihrer Forderung unter Kaiser Franz I (Vienna: F. Tempsky, 1914), p. 101 Google Scholar. See also Blum, “Transportation and Industry in Austria,” pp. 32–35; and Zenker, Die Wiener Revolution 1848, p. 58. In a recent doctoral dissertation, Nachum Theodor Gross also bears witness to the expanded in-dustrial activity from the late 1820's through the 1840's. See his “Industrialization in Austria in the Nineteenth Century” (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, University of California at Berkeley, 1966), pp. 83–84.Google Scholar

3 Blum, “Transportation and Industry in Austria,” p. 38, n. 108.

4 Zenkér, Die Wiener Revolution 1848, pp. 61–65.

5 Ibid., p. 76.

6 Ernst, Violand, Die soziale Geschichle der Revolution in Österreich (Leipzig: Otto Wigand, 1850), pp. 45–46 Google Scholar. See also Zenker, Die Wiener Revolution 1848, pp. 79–80.

7 von Werburg, Victor Andrian, Österreich und dessert Zukunft (2 pts., Hamburg: Ludwig Giese, 1847), Pt. 1, pp. 140 and 185 Google Scholar. See also Leopold, Lentner, Das Erwachen der modernen katholischen Sozialidee. Die Ehtwicklung im 19. Jahrhundert bis zum Erscheinung der Enzyklika “Rerum novarum” (Vienna: Wiener Dom-Verlag, 1951), p. 26.Google Scholar

8 The deans' and priests' reports in the Vienna archdiocese for the years 1815–1848 are contained in approximately thirty boxes (Kassetten) in the Wiener Erzdiözesan Archiv (Vienna Archdiocesan Archive). The reports are arranged by years, and no fascicle or document numbers have been provided for them. Most of the reports consist of single sheets. When they are longer the folio numbers of the particular parts of the reports cited are given. Of limited use is the catalog of bishops' acts by Joseph, Kopallik, Regeslen zur Geschichie der Erzdiocese Wien (2 vols., Vienna: Karl Gorischek, 1894). Vol. II Google Scholar (Regesten der Geschichte der Bischöfe und Erzbischöfe Wiens) lists some but not all of the archive's holdings pertaining to the acts of the bishops. There is no similar catalog of the priests' and deans' reports.

There are nine fascicles of visitation reports in the Austrian Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv (hereafter cited as “Staatsarchiv [Vienna]”). They are found in the Kaiser Franz Akten. The reports are discussed and their contents summarized by Erika, Weinzierl in her article “Visitationsberichte österreichischer Bischöfe an Kaiser Franz I (1804–1835),” Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs, Vol. VI (1953), pp. 240–311 Google Scholar. Since her article was written the fascicles have been rearranged. The new system of numbering is used in my own article.

9 Visitation report of Zängerle, Roman Sebastian to Franpis, Emperor 1, April 11, 1828 Google Scholar, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Kaiser Franz Akten, Fasz. VII, No. 221/76, Fos. 18–19.

10 Visitation report of Bishop Sigismund von Hohenwart to Emperor Francis 1, December 7, 1823, ibid., Fasz. X, No. 219/50, Fos. 23–24.

11 Visitation report of von Firmian, Archbishop Leopold Maximilian to Emperor, Francis I, June 12, 1826 Google Scholar, Wiener Erzdiözesan Archiv, Fo. 3. Also in Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Kaiser Franz Akten, Fasz. IV, No. 223/97.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid., Fos. 3–4

14 Ibid., Fo. 4.

15 Visitation report of Archbishop Leopold Maximilian von Firmian to Emperor Francis I, August 24, 1831, Wiener Erzdiözesan Archiv.

16 Visitation report of Hieronymus Oesterreicher, provisional dean of Klosterneuburg, to the Vienna Ordinariat, October 31, 1834, ibid., Fo. 4. Oesterreicher became the permanent dean shortly after submitting this report.

17 Ibid., Fo. 5. See also Oesterreicher's visitation reports to the Vienna Ordinariat on November 21, 1835, December 30, 1837, and December 29, 1839, ibid.

18 Visitation report of Joseph Hofmann, dean of Pillichsdorf, to the Vienna Ordinariat, December 22, 1841, ibid.

19 Visitation report of Dean Kajetan Geyer, of Pottenstein, to the Vienna Ordinariat, December 2,1844, ibid. A Hausleithen district report blamed “half-educated” postmasters and road inspectors and tobacco overseers, and journeymen in market towns for encouraging the growing religious indifference. See visitation report of Dean Franz Krapf, of Hausleithen, to the Vienna Ordinariat, October 16,1831, ibid. Georg Stöhr, the priest of Krems parish, in the diocese of St. Pölten, believed that parents belonging to the lower social classes contributed to religious and moral decay by not sending their children to school. See Stöhr's report to the St. Pölten Ordinariat, May 25,1836, St. Pölten Diocesan Archive, Dekanatsvisitationsberichte, District Krems. Bishop Augustin Gruber, of Laibach (Ljubljana), on the other hand, blamed the passion for luxury in some of the more prosperous districts of his diocese on the superfluous wealth of the inhabitants. See Gruber's visitation report to Emperor, Francis I, February 14, 1820 Google Scholar, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Kaiser Franz Akten, Fasz. 111, No. 217/42, Fos. 41–42.

20 Visitation report of Dean Joseph Hofmann, of Pottenstein, to the Vienna Ordinariat, 1830, Wiener Erzdiözesan Archiv, Fos. 1–2. Hofmann later served as dean in the districts of Kirchschlag and Pillichsdorf.

21 Ibid., Fos. 6–7. See also Fo. 8 for a discussion of the disruptive impact of a spinning factory at Steinabrückl on the surrounding people. Further comments regarding the undesirable effects of commerce can be found in Hofmann's visitation report to the Vienna ordinariat, May 14, 1831, and his report from Kirchschlag on November 30,1832, ibid.

22 Visitation report of Dean Wendelin Simmerdinger, of Hütteldorf, to the Vienna Ordinariat, October 31, 1830, ibid.

23 Visitation report of Michael Oeschmayr, provisional dean of Klosterneuburg, to the Vienna Ordinariat, October 31, 1832, ibid. The connection between factory workers and disorderly conduct was often noted by the priests. See, for instance, the protocol of Franz Baritsch, the parish priest of Katzelsdorf, in the visitation report of Dean Franz Xaver Kammerlocher, of Wiener Neustadt, to the Vienna Ordinariat, September 22,1824, ibid.; and an unsigned visitation report drawn up by numerous priests from the Neunkirchen district that was sent to the Vienna Ordinariat on June 28, 1828, ibid. In the latter report, see especially the section concerning the Neunkirchen parish. A complaint about the rowdy behavior of the workers in a mill near the town of Fischamend was made by Johann Weber, the dean of Fischamend, in a visitation report to the Vienna Ordinariat on October 30, 1831. See ibid.

24 Protocol of Wenzel Summer, the priest of Lichtenwörth parish, June 25,1817, included in Franz Xaver Kammerlocher's visitation report to the Vienna Ordinariat, Wiener Neustadt, ibid. The suggested changes in schedule were approved. See consistorial reply, December 31, 1817, ibid.

25 Canonical visitation report of Matthäus Paul Steindl, suffragan bishop and general vicar of Vienna, ibid., Fo. 32. Steindl also wrote about another similar school established in a factory at Teesdorf which employed 700 people. Ibid., Fo. 12.

26 Visitation reports of Dean Johann Weber, of Fischamend, to the Vienna Ordinariat on October 30, 1831; and of Dean Hilarius Urban, of Laxenburg, on November 28, 1839, ibid.

27 Visitation report of Dean Georg Freystadtler, of Fischamend, to the Vienna Ordinariat, October 7, 1842, ibid .

28 Visitation report of Ignaz Wenzl, provisional dean of Weigelsdorf, to the Vienna Ordinariat, December 13,1847, ibid. Wenzl also noted that factory workers were inclined to be more disorderly than other elements of the population. Furthermore, he decried the national dissensions which he found in his district.

29 Visitation report of von Hohenwart, Bishop Sigismund to Emperor, Francis I, November 28, 1820 Google Scholar, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Kaiser Franz Akten, Fasz. VIII, No. 219/50, Fos. 6–7. For a discussion of Hohenwart's attitude toward the poor inhabitants of industrial centers, see Erika, Weinzierl, “Österreichs Klerus und die Arbeiterschaft,” Wortund Wahrheit, Vol. XII (1957), pp. 614–615.Google Scholar

30 Visitation report of von Hohenwart, Bishop Sigismund to Francis, I, December 7, 1823 Google Scholar, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Kaiser Franz Akten, Fasz. IX, No. 219/50, Fo. 22.

31 Visitation report of Bishop Gregor Thomas Ziegler to Emperor Francis I, November 24, 1829, ibid., Fasz. XII, No. 219/50, Fos. 27–28.

32 Visitation report of Bishop Gregor Thomas Ziegler to Emperor Francis 1, November 30, 1831, ibid ., Fasz. XIII, No. 219/50, Fos. 26–27.

33 Memorandum of a city priest in Linz to the director of the tobacco factory, Stadtarchiv (Linz), Pfarrarchiv, Fasz. XCI, No. 1.

34 Visitation report of Gruber, Bishop Augustin to Emperor, Francis I, February 14, 1820 Google Scholar, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Kaiser Franz Akten, Fasz. Ill, No. 217/42, Fos. 51–52. See also Weinzierl, “Visitationsberichte österreichischer Bischöfe an Kaiser Franz I,” p. 308; and Weinzierl, “Österreichs Klerus und die Arbeiterschaft,” pp. 614–615.

35 Weinzierl, “Visitationsberichte österreichischer Bischöfe an Kaiser Franz I,” p. 304.

36 Memorandum of the Vienna consistory, September 1, 1839, Schottenstift Archiv (Vienna), Scrinium XXII, Fasz. XV, No. 15d.

37 Memoranda of the imperial-royal city government (k. k. Stadthauptmannschaft) to the priest of parish, Am Hof, January 23, 1819 Google Scholar, and September 13, 1819, Wiener Erzdiözesan Archiv, Pfarrakte der Kirche “Am Hof,” Fasz. VI, No. 8. The records of parishes that no longer exist, such as those of Am Hof, are housed in the Wiener Erzdiözesan Archiv.

38 Fritz Valjavec suggests that the social interests of Sebastian Brunner and some of the early post-1848 Catholic conservatives might have been inspired in part by such Josephinist vestiges as the abolition of serfdom. Similarly, prior to 1848 Catholic prelates and priests might agree on social issues while taking opposing stands on many of the Josephinist political and ecclesiastical reforms. See Fritz, Valjavec, Der Josephinismus. Zur geistigen Entwicklung Österreichs im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert (Brünn: Rudolf M. Rohrer Verlag, 1944), p. 88 Google Scholar. n. 2.

39 Zenker, , Die Wiener Revolution 1848, pp. 104–105 Google Scholar; Lentner, Das Erwachsen der modernen katholischen Sozialidee, pp. 30–31. Lentner points out that in 1848 Johann Emanuel Veith and Sebastian Brunner, two of the most vocal political leaders of Catholic clericalism in Austria, were more concerned with Josephinism than with social issues.

40 Roger, Aubert, Le pontifical de Pie IX (1846–1878). In Histoire de I' Église depuis les origines jusqu'á nos jours, edited by Augustin, Fliche and Victor, Martin, Vol. XXI (Paris: Bloud and Gay, 1952), pp. 488–489 Google Scholar. See also Woodward, E. L., Three Studies in European Conservatism: Metternich, Guizot, the Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Century (London: Constable and Co., Ltd., 1929), pp. 236–237 Google Scholar and 246–247; Moody, Joseph N., “The Papacy,” in Church and Society. Catholic Social and Political Thought and Movements, 1789–1950, edited by Moody, Joseph N. (New York: Arts, Inc., 1953), p. 40 Google Scholar; and Lentner, Das Erwachsen der modernen katholischen Sozialidee, pp. 72–73.

41 James, Healy, The Just Wage, 1750–1890: A Study of Moralists from Saint Alphonsus to Leo XIII (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1966), pp. xii Google Scholar, 169, and 469.

42 Johannes, Messner, Die soziale Frage im Blickfeld der Irrwege von gestern, der Sozialkampfvon heute, der Weltentscheidungen von morgen (Innsbruck: Tyrolia-Verlag, 1956), pp. 164–165.Google Scholar