Ferdinand Kindermann von Schulstein

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Ferdinand Kindermann von Schulstein, lithograph by Friedrich Dewerth

Ferdinand Kindermann (since 1777: Knight of Schulstein) (born September 27, 1740 in Königswalde ( Království ) near Schluckenau , Bohemia ; † May 25, 1801 in Leitmeritz , Bohemia) was a Roman Catholic clergyman, bishop of Leitmeritz and school reformer.

Origin and way of life

Ferdinand Kindermann came from a north Bohemian German family of craftsmen. 1754–1760 he graduated from the grammar school of the Augustinian Canons of Sagan in Lower Silesia and then studied philosophy and theology at the Charles University in Prague . In 1765 he was ordained a priest and a year later he received his doctorate in theology . He then studied aesthetics, moral theology and catechetics; at the same time he was tutor and catechist for the noble Buquoy family in southern Bohemia. As pastor of Kaplitz , he founded a country school there.

School reformer

In 1774 Kindermann was transferred to the highest school supervision in Bohemia with a teaching post for education at the Lesser Town Gymnasium in Prague . In the same year he opened the Prague Normal School, from which a teacher training institute developed. He became provost in Mariaschein in 1779, in 1781 at Vyshehrad in Prague, in 1788 Scholasticus in the Prague Metropolitan Chapter and since 1790 bishop of the Litomerice diocese. There he founded a trend-setting cathedral parish school, reformed teacher training and activated the teaching of students by teaching work techniques.

In 1777 Ferdinand Kindermann was raised to the hereditary-Austrian nobility by Empress Maria Theresia for his services as “father of the Austrian elementary school” with the nobility title “Knight of Schulstein” . He also dealt with a land reform of heirloom state estates in the Austrian hereditary lands and has prepared a report on pastoral care on the Bohemian state domains. Together with Bishop Johann Leopold von Hay , he was a member of the commission that investigated the causes of the unrest among the peasant population in Moravian Wallachia in order to lead the renegade peasants back to Catholicism without taking into account their subservience in its considerations. He opposed violent measures and recommended the distribution of Catholic books in the Czech language.

In 1779 he founded a first so-called industrial school , which was supposed to help raise the prosperity of the working population. Promoted to spiritual inspector in the same year, he had a say in the selection of pastors. As provost of the Vyšehrad chapter in Prague in 1783 he became a member of the liquidation commission for the abolition of brotherhoods of other denominations, with which the administration of Emperor Joseph II wanted to achieve additional funds for Roman Catholic schools and poor relief. Kindermann was also a member of the ecclesiastical court commission for Bohemia and in 1787 the Prague cathedral scholaster . In his time he was one of the most influential clergy in Bohemia, but because of his proximity to Joseph II's reform policy with the abolition of monasteries and the nationalization of their large estates, he met with rejection in church-conservative circles.

Bishop of Leitmeritz

After the death of the Leitmeritz bishop Emmanuel Ernst von Waldstein , Ferdinand Kindermann von Schulstein was elected by the cathedral chapter as his successor on February 4, 1790. The approval of the Vatican in Rome took place on March 29th. On July 4, 1790, he was ordained bishop by the Prague Auxiliary Bishop Erasmus Dionys Krieger and took over the administration of the diocese on October 10.

As a bishop, too, Kindermann felt committed to schooling and caring for the poor. He founded a girls' training institute and an agricultural school, which was supposed to impart advanced knowledge in arable and fruit growing. During his visitations in the district he was also interested in the school conditions and rewarded exemplary teachers and pastors with book donations and promotions. When there was a shortage of priests, he and his canons helped out in pastoral care.

The pilgrimage site of Mariaschein was of particular importance during his tenure as bishop in Leitmeritz . In 1795 he wrote a pamphlet “On the best kind of conversion” in which he emphasized the need for re-Catholicization . He did not recover from a stroke in 1799. He died two years later and was buried in the general cemetery outside the city.

Publications

  • News from the Kaplitz country school, 1772
  • On the Influence of the Lower Schools on Life Together, on the Middle and High Schools, 1776
  • Thoughts on the Means of Disseminating the Religious Education of the Improved Common Schools to Adults, 1790

Honors

In 1894, Kindermanngasse in Vienna- Hernals (17th district) was named after him.

literature

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Emmanuel Ernst von Waldstein Bishop of Leitmeritz
1790–1801 		Wenceslaus Leopold Chlumčanský from Přestavlk
personal data
SURNAME Kindermann von Schulstein, Ferdinand
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kindermann Ritter von Schulstein, Ferdinand; Kindermann, Ferdinand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Leitmeritz
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1740
PLACE OF BIRTH Königswalde (Království) near Schluckenau
DATE OF DEATH May 25, 1801
Place of death Leitmeritz , Bohemia