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| Union of Catholic German Student Fraternities | |
|---|---|
| CV | |
 | |
| Founded | December 6, 1856; 168 years ago (December 6, 1856) Münster, Germany |
| Type | Umbrella |
| Affiliation | Independent |
| Status | Active |
| Emphasis | Catholic fraternities |
| Scope | National |
| Members | 123 + 4 (seeLov! orSld!) active |
| Headquarters | Linzer Str. 82 Bad Honnef 53604 Germany |
| Website | www |
TheUnion of Catholic German Student Fraternities (German:Cartellverband der katholischen deutschen Studentenverbindungen orCartellverband, CV) is a German umbrella organization ofCatholic male student fraternities (Studentenverbindung).
During the period of 19th century inGermany called theKulturkampf, thePrussian state tried to reduce the influence of the Catholic Church. As a result of this, many Catholic organizations were founded in order to withstand this pressure by forming a single front.
Catholic students of several universities inGermany,Austria andSwitzerland formed Catholic fraternities. These Catholic fraternities were the successors of informal Catholic clubs, founded by students of theology. They were formed according to the historic examples of the already existing fraternities, like wearingcouleur, rules of behaviour, lifelong membership and democratic organization, but added as main principle the foundation upon the Catholic faith.
In 1851 inMunich a fraternity calledAenania München was founded. This fraternity tried to establish connections to other Catholic fraternities on other universities. On 6 December 1856,AenaniaMünchen formed an alliance with the newly foundedWinfridiaBreslau. This formal alliance was the birth of theCartellverband. Both fraternities shared the same principles,religio, scientia et amicitia.
In 1864GuestfaliaTübingen andAustriaInnsbruck entered theCartellverband. LaterBavaria Bonn founded in 1844, entered. In 1871AlsatiaMünster, renamedSaxoniaMünster, andMarkomanniaWürzburg,HercyniaFreiburg im Breisgau in 1873,SueviaBerlin in 1876,RhenaniaMarburg andBurgundiaLeipzig, both in 1880 followed.
These new Catholic fraternities, calledStudentenverbindungen, faced strong resistance of the olderCorps andBurschenschaften and of the administrations of the universities as well. They were forbidden to wear their colors and one,AlsatiaMünster even was forced to temporary suspend itself. Nevertheless theCartellverband showed a solid growth of membership.
In 1907 a fourth principle,patria, was added to the other three.Patria did not mean a limitation of membership to people of German, Austrian or Swiss origin, as several members from other countries, asBelgium, theNetherlands, and theUnited Kingdom show. For example, on 28 February 1905 the first American, Irville Charles LeCompte[1], later a professor atYale, was accepted as a member ofAV Rappoltstein, then in Strasbourg, now in Cologne (KDStV Rappoltstein).
Since its foundation, theCartellverband only accepted into its structure one fraternity from every university, called the principle of singularity. Those fraternities, which were denied membership founded other umbrella organisations, like theKatholische Deutsche Verband farbentragender Studentenkorporationen (KDV), sharing the same principles as the CV. In 1907 the principle of singularity was abolished. Now the former members of these umbrella organisations could join theCartellverband, which structure and membership exploded.
During the first years the member fraternities of theCartellverband were forbidden to accept members without a certificate of having passed theAbitur, the German equivalent of a university entrance qualification. In these times thisAbitur was not necessary to study on a technical university. The fraternities of these universities accepted such students. Those fraternities founded their own organizations because they could not gain membership in theCartellverband. Because it abolished the precondition ofAbitur in 1904, those fraternities could also join theCartellverband. Shortly beforeWorld War I, former fraternities of theUnitas-Verband, likeAlania Bonn andCheruskiaTübingen also entered the Cartellverband.
Several small organizations, like theÖsterreichischer Cartellverband, theCartell katholischer Verbindungen an Tierärztlichen Hochschulen, theVerband Katholischer Studentenvereine and theCartell katholischer Verbindungen an Landwirtschaftlichen Hochschulen followed. Thus theCartellverband became the largest organisation representing Catholic academics in Germany and Austria.
The Catholic fraternities always faced reproaches to endanger the academic liberty with their Catholic faith, because as avowing Catholics they would be Ultramontanists, following orders from the other side of the mountain, which means from the Vatican on the other side of the Alps. Therefore they were declared enemies of the Empire. During theKulturkampf (1872–1887) the few fraternities of the CV could not ply a significant part. During the academicKulturkampf of 1903–1908 the situation had changed. Now the Catholic fraternities were a main target of the attacks of nationalistic and liberal fraternities.
7199 members of the CV served in World War I. 1282 of them, more than 15% of the whole members died. After World War I the CV was spread on seven states, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania, but soon the fraternities of Strasbourg had to leave Alsace. Having shared the bloodshed of World War I the catholic and non confessional fraternities put an end to their quarrels by signature of theErlangener Verbände- und Ehrenabkommen ('Treaty of honour between academic organizations of Erlangen') in 1921. Now all fraternities treated each other as equals.
The so-called White Ring was an organisation within the CV, existing from 1908 until 1923. The members were the fraternities Bavaria Bonn,BurgundiaMünchen,RipuariaFreiburg im Breisgau, andZollern Münster. Some other fraternities sympathized with them, for exampleGuestfaliaTübingen,Rheno-PalatiaBreslau,Rheno-FranconiaMünchen andMarco-DanubiaWien.
When in 1912 the CV decided that allCartellbrüder (members of different fraternities of the CV) had to call each otherDu (an address used in families and among close friends), a treatment comparable to call someone by first name, these fraternities rejected the request. Because they were denied to use theSie (a formal address, directed to strangers, especially superior persons) to address aCartellbruder, they decided to call theBundesbrüder, the members of the own fraternity,Sie. The formal sign of the white ring was a white carnation. This was terminated by theCartellversammlung of 1923, where these practices were forbidden.
TheCartellversammlung of 1932 forbade the members of the CV fraternities to be member of theNSDAP as well, because the German bishops opposed the NSDAP. One year later, the relations between the German state and the Vatican were cleared by theReichskonkordat. Now there was no more reason to deny membership in a party the Holy See had relations with. The same day members already wore uniforms of theSA and theSS.[citation needed] Beginning in 1933 there was a process ofGleichschaltung ('alignment'). The fraternities had to develop a principle of leadership similar to the party organizations of the NSDAP and connection to the national socialist student community. As a reaction to these proceedings, the Austrian fraternities and those inCzechoslovakia split off. They founded theÖsterreichischen Cartellverband der katholischen deutschen Studentenverbindungen (ÖCV) on 10 July 1933, and theSudetendeutscher Cartellverband der farbentragenden katholischen deutschen Studentenverbindungen (SCV) on 14 June 1933. They were to never reunite.
On 31 January 1934 the leadership of the CV declared the Catholic orientation of the CV to be terminated. On 27 October 1935 theCartellversammlung decided to close the CV. Now only the fraternityTeutonia Fribourg in Switzerland survived. On 20 June 1938 the remaining structures of the CV were eliminated by order ofHeinrich Himmler, the leader of the SS. All property of the former fraternities was confiscated. Although the fraternities did not exist any more, many of the former members tried to find informal ways to live their academic traditions. There was no unitary attitudes. Among the members of the CV were culprits and victims of the National Socialism alike.
After the war, the fraternities tried to re-establish themselves. This was a difficult and very painful process. Victims of the Nazi tyranny met those who destroyed their fraternities or even participated in crimes. In 1950 the CV was re-established, but it had changed. The fraternities in Austria did not return, those in theGerman Democratic Republic,Poland,Czechoslovakia andUkraine had to search for a new location withinWest Germany or Austria.
The CV and the ÖCV, the organization of the Austrian Fraternities and the Student organization of Switzerland formed friendship with a contract on 10 February 1963 at Innsbruck. The CV is a founding member of theEuropean Federation of Christian Students' Associations in 1975. It is also member of the consortium of Catholic Organizations (AGV), of thePax Romana - International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs and the Catholic of Germany and several other organizations.
Today the German (CV) and Austrian (ÖCV)Cartellverband together unite more than 177 active and 12 inactive German student fraternities inGermany,Austria,Switzerland,Belgium,France,Hungary,Italy,Japan,Poland,Slovakia andSyria. Today they represent 42,000 academics throughout the world. For example of member fraternities, seeK.A.V. Lovania Leuven orCatholic German student corporation Saarland (Saarbrücken) Jena.
TheCartellverband is aconfederation of individual fraternities with equal principals, in a subsidiary relation, which means that the fraternities have the greatest possible autonomy, within the framework of the basic principles of theCartellverband.
All the member fraternities share equal rights and duties, especially equal voting rights. Only in matters of protocol, a distinction is made on the basis of the historic date of membership of theCartellverband. Individual persons can not become a member of theCartellverband.
All theAktivitates (anAktivitas is the entirety of the members of a single fraternity, still member of the university) of the single fraternities together form theStudentenbund, theAltherrenschaft (Altherrenschaft is the entirety of the members of a fraternity who finished their studies) together form theAltherrenbund.
If there are several member fraternities in a town, these are to formOrtsverbände, local divisions of the CV to coordinate their connections and their exterior view. For example, there areOrtsverbände atAachen (7 fraternities),Darmstadt (3),Freiburg im Breisgau (6),Hannover (3),Cologne (7),München–Freising–Weihenstephan (10),Münster (7),Würzburg (6,)Mainz, (3),Frankfurt am Main (4),Heidelberg (2),Berlin (4),Bonn (8) andErlangen–Nürnberg (3).
To see the member fraternities please watchList of member fraternities of the Cartellverband
The development of membership:
Before the split off of 1933
After the split off without the members of the ÖCV
In about 247 locations in Germany and Austria, and inBrussels,Luxembourg,Paris andNew York there are regional groups of individual members of fraternities of theCartellverband calledZirkel. These offer the regular possibility for individual members, living far from their fraternity, to keep contact to other members who live nearby.
The oldest Zirkel, founded 1876 inKoblenz is calledConfluentiaKoblenz.
The supreme legislative institution is theCartellversammlung (C.V.), the assembly of all the member fraternities of theCartellverband. It is composed of two chambers, theStudentenbund and theAltherrenbund, representing students and alumni. Each fraternity has one vote. In addition to the meetings, the programme during aCartellversammlung consists of a ball, aKommers and aHoly Mass on Sunday. For spouses of members and girlfriends, there is a parallel cultural program.
Superior executive institution is theCV-Rat (CV Council). Chairman is the chairman of the executive committee of theAltherrenbund. The other Members are theVorortspräsident (the chairman of theAktive) and two elected members, one elected by theAlte Herren, one elected by theAktive. There are several other institutions as the department of pastoral care, the department of treasure, the department of academic education and the legal department.
Every year another fraternity or local group of fraternities presides the CV. They form theVorortspräsidium (executive committee of theAktive), consisting of the president the vice president and heads of the divisions social policy, press and publicity, foreign contacts and finance. This Vorort also represents the whole Cartellverband. The executive committee of theAltherrenbund, a president, and several heads of regional divisions is elected for therms of four years.
TheCartellverband has its own courts on fraternity, regional and national level. These function as an honorary Senate.
Der Cartellverband is publisher of a magazine, calledAcademia, which is published five times a year. This magazine was founded in 1888.
Nearly every fraternity of the Cartellverband is founded upon four guiding principles:
The fraternities of theCartellverband historically do not practiseacademic fencing (Mensur) because it was forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church. Academic fencing is common with the more liberal student fraternities that already existed inGerman-speaking countries. Owing to this restriction, Catholic students had to organize themselves in separate fraternities. The fraternities only accept men into the organization.
The motto of CV:In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas ('In essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity').
This was a phrase used by Christian Irenics, and has been traced to Rupert Melden inParaenesis votiva pro Pace Ecclesiae ad Theologos Augustanae Confessionis, Auctore Ruperto Meldenio Theologo (62 pp. in 4to, without date and place of publication_. It probably appeared in 1627 atFrankfort-on-the-Oder, which was at that time the seat of theological moderation. Melden was a Lutheran, but the motto has also been used by the catholic Church, such as inPope John XXIII's first encyclical,Ad Petri Cathedram of 1959. The English version is also frequently used by British Freemasons.
Thecoat of arms was designed in 1921 byJoseph Weiß and Philipp Schumacher. It shows a shield, parted; on gold a black eagle with a white shield on his breast, the old sign of Christ,Chi-Rho, within; on red a green hill with a white tower and a golden star on each side.
A Helmet with a medieval student on top, in a green coat, doubled gold and yellow, a sword on his right side. In the left hand, he has a flag with a golden cross on a red shield containing the letters C and V surrounded by a green wreath. In the left hand he has a red book. The manteling is made in the colors green, dubbled[check spelling] silver on the left side, dubbled red and gold on the right side. in the manteling is a white ribbon with the motto.
TheCartellverband has an official anthem, calledLaßt ihr buntbemützten Scharen. The text was written by Heinrich Gassert, a member ofHercyniaFreiburg im Breisgau, in 1885, the melody was adopted from the former popular songStrömt herbei ihr Völkerscharen, composed by Peter Johannes Peters in 1867. It has six strophes, which are following:
Only fraternities are members of theCartellverband, in the strict sense of the word. A complete list of all fraternities that are members of the German (CV) and Austrian (ÖCV)Cartellverband, can be found atList of member fraternities of the Cartellverband.
These following persons are living or deceased members of one of these fraternities that make up theCartellverband. They are calledCartellbrüder.
TheCartellverband has friendly relations with other umbrella organisations:
Other competing umbrella organisations of German student fraternities exist, founded upon different guiding principles:
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