Joseph Othmar Rauscher

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Prince-Archbishop ofVienna, born atVienna, 6 Oct., 1797; died there 24 Nov., 1875. He received his earliereducation at the gymnasium inVienna, devoting himself chiefly to the study ofjurisprudence; he also gave much time to the study of poetry, and many examples of his verses have survived. Later his desire to enterHoly Orders was opposed by hisparents, but he finally overcame their objections.

After hisordination he was appointedcurate in Hütteldorf, and later professor ofchurch history and Canon law atSalzburg, where Friedrich Prince Schwarzenberg, director of the Oriental Academy atVienna, was among his pupils. In January, 1849,Cardinal Schwarzenberg named his former teacher Prince-Bishop of Sekkau, "in recognition of his distinguished qualities,knowledge, and services". In this capacity Rauscher performed great services in a short time, introduced pastoral conferences, and restored to theRedemptorists their mission houses. He also fostered religious associations, and put an end to the intrigues of the Rongeaner, although important business detained him for the most part inVienna. Scarcely was heconsecrated than he hurried to the capital to attend the great episcopal assembly which inaugurated theecclesiastical revival inAustria; between 29 April and 20 June, 1849, twenty-fivebishops and four episcopal proxies held sixty sessions. The last in order ofconsecration, Rauscher took the most prominent part in the transactions. He laid before the assembly apromemoria, which served as the programme of the business, and drafted five of the seven memorials addressed to the Ministry of the Interior. He also drew up the decrees to serve for thebishops "as the common rule of their aim and activity". The beautiful pastoral of thebishops to theclergy was also composed by him. Before thebishops separated, they chose a committee of five members for the settlement of the memorials and the arrangement of all current affairs. As the reporter of this committee, he acted at times as its sole agent.

Rauscher was the father of the Austrian Concordat On 14 Sept., 1852, a cabinet order appeared, naming him imperial plenipotentiary for the conclusion of a concordat. The negotiations were long and troublesome; during them Rauscher was named Prince-Archbishop ofVienna, and made his solemn entry into theCathedral of St. Stephen on 15 Aug., 1853. To promote the Concordat he found itnecessary to visitRome, where he was engaged in the most difficult negotiations for seven months. He was thus able to take part in the solemnities in connexion with the Definition of the Immaculate Conception. Finally, on 18 Aug., 1855, the Concordat was signed and on 5 Nov., it was published as a law "applicable throughout the empire". For the homogeneous introduction of the concordat sixty-sixbishops assembled inVienna in 1856. Rauscher was raised to thecardinalate in 1855. By 1 Jan., 1857,ecclesiastical courts, for which Rauscher composed the celebrated instructions ("Instructio pro indiciis ecclesiasticis"), were established in all theepiscopal sees. Provincialsynods prescribed the special application of the Concordat to the individualdioceses. The decrees of theViennese Council of 1858, skilfully directed by Rauscher and ratified byRome, still serve as an important form ofclerical life andecclesiastical activity. Thesciences, both religious and general, as well as thereligious orders and associations and art, flourished during the concordat era. Rauscher's magnanimity is revealed by his foundation of the Austrian house forpilgrims atJerusalem, thus giving the citizens of the Hapsburg Empire a home in the Holy Land.

Up to this period Rauscher'szeal had been constructive; after the unfortunate Austrianwars of 1859-66, he found himself compelled to adopt the defensive, since the blame for the defeats was most unjustifiably referred to the Concordat. Thearchbishops and prince-bishops are members of the House of Peers; thus, when thewar on the Concordat opened in the Reichstag in 1861 and its revision was demanded, Rauscher with the other episcopal members of the Upper House deliberated concerning an address to the emperor. When the House of Delegates demanded the removal of thereligious orders from the penitentiaries,hospitals, and other state institutions, he declared in the House of Peers: "Since 1859 no effort of artificial agitation has been spared to open a campaign against defencelesswomen, who ask of this earthly life only necessities, and serve their fellow-creatures in privations and discomforts. This unworthy agitation bears the stamp ofhatred towardsChristianity, but it has likewise in it something cowardly and ignoble, of which even one estranged fromChristianity should be ashamed." In consequence of the events of 1866, the storm against the Concordat and theChurch broke outviolently, and the Press added to its power. When the drafts of the newlaws concerning marriage, theschools, and the interconfessional relations, in respect to which points there were many gaps in the Concordat, came up for discussion in the House of Peers, Rauscher immediately arose and delivered his celebrated speech on the Concordat, urging harmony between the spiritual andsecular powers. When the decrees had been sanctioned, and the newlaws had been vigorously condemned by thepope, there arose great dissatisfaction and turmoil. To demonstrate the illogical nature of this agitation Rauscher demanded: "Is it not permissible for apope to pronounce a lawunjust? Every newspaper arrogates to itself the right of stigmatizing theinjustice of alllaws which do not agree with its partisan views". A little later the pastoral of Bishop Rudigier ofLinz was seized, and thebishop himself subsequently condemned to fourteen days'imprisonment with costs; the pastoral was to be suppressed. However, Rauscher immediately obtained from the emperor the annulment of the sentence and of the consequences which it entailed with respect to civilrights and relations.

Still greatly excited, the Austrianbishops proceeded to theVatican Council immediately after the raging fight about the Concordat. Rauscher regarded the assembly with the greatest hopes and issued two pastorals dealing with the council on 15 Nov., 1869.Pius IX appointed him to the important commissionpro recipiendis, which had to investigate all motions submitted. At the first real session of the council (the General Congregation of 28 Dec.) he delivered the first address, and twice spoke against the opportuneness of a universalcatechism; the needs and the degrees of culture of the individual peoples were too different. As to the question which finally most strongly stirred the minds of those in and outside the council, that of theinfallibility of the pope teachingex cathedra, Rauscher was the leader of thebishops who combatted the expediency of the definition. His work, "Observationes quædam de infallibilitatis ecclesiæ subjecto", appeared atNaples, and was reprinted atVienna; the author later explained that it "was especially intended to emphasize the fact that the proposed decision would afford parties hostile to theChurch those subterfuges of which they were in need". In the general debate Rauscher, who was ill, had his speech read by Bishop Hefele; it lasted over an hour, and ends characteristically: "But always shall I adore the ways of the Lord", He repeatedly took part in the special debates (8, 9, and 15 June), and at the ballot in the General Congregation of 13 July he votednon placet. However, he did not sign the memorial of the fifty-fivebishops of the minority toPius IX on 17 July,believing he had done all that he should. On 17 July he took leave of thepope, and later, asArchbishop ofVienna,promulgated thedoctrinal decrees of theVatican Council. None of the violations ofjustice and abuses of power, which resulted in the complete suppression of thePapal States on 20 September, 1870, passed without Rauscher raising a protesting voice. In May, 1874, thelaws concerning the external legal position of theCatholicChurch, the contributions to the religious funds, and the legal recognition of religioussocieties were issued (seeAUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY). With theselaws the religious legislation ofAustria has found a temporary conclusion.

The term "providential personality", so often misused, may be with completejustice applied to Cardinal Rauscher; he saved the monarchy the sufferings of aKulturkampf. He was atrue patriot.Austria's greatness, power, and glory were the guiding stars of his political activity. Daily heprayed: "Lord, let me not die before I have fulfilled the task with which Thou hast entrusted me". This moment was now come. On the eve of the Feast ofSt. Catherine of Alexandria, patroness ofphilosophical studies, he had always received theSacrament of Penance; on the eve of this feast in 1875 he also died. His body rests in Our Lady's Choir of the Stephanskirche before the steps of the altar. At the wall beneath the Rauscher window is his monument. Thestatue of thecardinal, representing him with his hands crossed over the breast and clothed in episcopal vestments, portrays his principal characteristic, charity. Besides the monument are the pictures of hispatron saints, Joseph and Othmar, while all iscrowned by a representation of the Risen Redeemer.

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