Benedict Stattler
Benedict Stattler (30 January 1728 – 21 August 1797) was a German Jesuit theologian, and an opponent of Immanuel Kant. He was a member of the German Catholic Enlightenment.
Life
Benedict Stattler was born at Kötzting, Bavaria. He was educated by the Benedictines of Niederaltaich Abbey. He entered the Jesuit novitiate at Landsberg in 1745 and, after the usual studies, taught philosophy and theology in Solothurn (Switzerland), Innsbruck, and Ingolstadt. He was ordained in 1759. In Ingolstadt, he continued to occupy the chair of theology even after the suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773. In 1774, he also assumed the duties of parish priest of the Church of St. Moritz.
In 1775, Stattler became vice-chancellor of the university but was forced out in 1781 due to anti-Jesuit sentiment. In 1783, when all former Jesuits were excluded from the office of teaching, he took charge of the parish of Kemnath, but soon exchanged this post for that of ecclesiastical adviser and member of the electoral committee on censures in Munich. After four years his health compelled him to resign this office, and he lived thereafter in retirement till his death. In his will, he established several charities that existed until confiscated in 1940.[1]
Works
Shortly after Adam Weishaupt had founded the secret society of the Illuminati, Stattler attacked them in an anonymous work (Das Geheimniß der Bosheit des Stifters des Illuminatismus in Baiern).
Kant's Critique of Pure Reason appeared in its first edition in 1781; in 1788 Stattler launched his Anti-Kant, and parried the attack which his book provoked in the literary world of Germany. His critique was inspired to the philosophy of Christian Wolff (philosopher). He defended the possibility to do metaphysics in the classical sense and to demonstrate the existence of God.
When the doctrines of the French revolutionists began to be echoed in his fatherland, he lost no time in pointing out to his compatriots the false ring which he detected in their boastful promises of liberty.
The bulk of his writings, however, is devoted to Catholic philosophy and theology. It was his avowed purpose to adapt the traditional teachings of the Schoolmen to the living needs of his time, "to plow anew the entire field of scholastic philosophy and theology and to fructify it with fresh seeds", as Bishop Sailer of Ratisbon, Stattler's great pupil, expressed it.
With this end in view, he wrote Philosophia methodo scientiæ propria explanata (Augsburg, 1769–72) and Demonstratio Evangelica (Augsburg, 1770). Yet he was attached to the rationalistic philosophy of Christian Wolff, religious toleration, and Febronianism.
His Ethica Christiana Communis (1782–1789) discussed the subject of work and wages.
His Demonstratio Catholica (Pappenheim, 1775) fell under the censure of the Roman authorities. And shortly before his death, his Loci Theologici (Weissenburg, 1775), Theologia Christiana Theoretica (Ingolstadt and Munich, 1776–79), and two other works were placed on the Index.
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Benedict Stattler — Jesuit theologian, born at Kötzting, Bavaria (Diocese of Ratisbon), 30 Jan., 1728; died at Munich, 21 Aug., 1797. He entered the Jesuit novitiate at Landsberg in 1745 and, after the usual studies, taught philosophy and theology in Solothurn (Switzerland), Innsbruck, and Ingolstadt. In the last-named place he continued to occupy the chair of theology even after the suppression of the Society. In 1783, when all former Jesuits were excluded from the office of teaching, he took charge of the parish of Kemnath, but soon exchanged this post for that of ecclesiastical adviser and member of the electoral committee on censures in Munich. After four years his health compelled him to resign this office, and he lived thereafter in retirement till his death. A man of keen intellectual vision and an unlimited capacity for work, Stattler was ever ready to guard and defend Catholic principles. Shortly after Adam Weishaupt had founded the secret society of the Illuminati, Stattler, in an anonymous work, laid bare the rationalistic ideas and the pernicious designs of these forerunners of freemasonry. Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" appeared in its first edition in 1781; in 1788 Stattler launched against its subversive principles his "Anti-Kant", and skilfully parried the attack which his book provoked in the literary world of Germany. When the doctrines of the French revolutionists began to be echoed in his fatherland, he lost no time in pointing out to his compatriots the false ring which he detected in their boastful promises of liberty. The bulk of his writings, however, is devoted to Catholic philosophy and theology. It was his avowed purpose to adapt the traditional teachings of the School to the living needs of his time, "to plow anew the entire field of scholastic philosophy and theology and to fructify it with fresh seeds", as Bishop Sailer of Ratisbon, Stattler's great pupil, expressed it. With this end in view, he wrote "Philosophia methodo scientiæ propria explanata" (Augsburg, 1769-72) and "Demonstratio Evangelica" (Augsburg, 1770). Yet his attachment to the rationalistic philosophy of Wolff and the far-going concessions he made to religious toleration and Febronianism led him astray and marred the lustre of his merits. The suppression of his order and the consequent loss of wise direction by superiors proved a veritable calamity to him. His "Demonstratio Catholica" (Pappenheim, 1775) fell under the censure of the Roman authorities, and, shortly before his death, his "Loci Theologici" (Weissenburg, 1775), "Theologia Christiana Theoretica" (Ingolstadt and Munich, 1776-79) and two other works were placed on the Index.
Biography by SAILER in Sämmtl. Werke (Sulzbach, 1841), xxxviii, 115 sq. HURTER, Nomenclator, III, 236 sqq. SOMMERVOGEL, Bibliothèque, VII, 1498 sqq.; WERNER, Gesch. d. kath. Theologie (Munich, 1866).
References
- Back to citation Scholz, Franz. Benedict Stattler, Herder Freiburg, 1957
Bibliography
- Biography by Johann Michael Sailer in Sämmtl. Werke (Sulzbach, 1841), xxxviii, 115 sq.
- Hugo von Hurter, Nomenclator, III, 236 sqq.
- Sommervogel, Bibliothèque, VII, 1498 sqq;
- Karl Werner, Geschichte der katholischen Theologie seit dem Trienter Concil bis zur Gegenwart (Munich, 1866)