Kolleg St. Blasien

The Kolleg St. Blasien is a state-recognised private Gymnasium (university preparatory school) and Catholic school with boarding facilities for boys and girls. It is situated in the town of St. Blasien in the German Black Forest. The school has 850 students, 300 of whom are boarders, and is led by members of the Jesuit order (Society of Jesus). It is considered to be one of the most prestigious schools in Germany with a rich and long history.

Today's School
The Kolleg consists of the twin structures of the school (Schule) and boarding element (Internat) which are led by the overall director of the Kolleg (Kollegsdirektor), Pater Johannes Siebner SJ. Students from over 20 countries come to the Kolleg, primarily to learn German in the Euroklasse. At the end of a year of intensive tuition in German language and culture, students are awarded the Zertifikat Deutsch or "Zentrale Mittelstufenprüfung" awarded by the Goethe Institute. The Kolleg is also renowned for its teaching of Chinese and classical languages.

All students study for the German Abitur and the school is a Gymnasium (grammar school) recognised by the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. In addition there is a varied program of extra-curricular activities ranging from rugby to drama.

History


The history of the school dates back to 1596, when Jesuits started a school in   Freiburg Switzerland. This school moved to Feldkirch, Austria in 1856 and to St. Blasien Germany in 1934. The National Socialist closed the school in 1939, in order to open an Adolf-Hitler school there. After World War Two, the Jesuit order re-opened the school in 1946, which, in war torn Germany was only possible in light of significant material aid from Pope Pius XII.

In 1856 a Jesuit school was opened in Feldkirch by Rev. Clemens Faller SJ. Students came from the various regions of Austria-Hungary, including today’s Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Croatia, but also from Germany, France, England, Switzerland and the USA. The highly international teacher and student body flourished here until the outbreak of World War one. . The conversational language was Latin. The Jesuit professors were expected to publish in their respective fields and not a few of them taught at the Gregorian University after of before they were at the Stella. A 1931 volume of twentysix publications shows a wide range of topics, from theology to law and natural sciences.

Scholarship
The Stella Matutina scholars were recognized at the time. Achille Ratti, later on Pope Pius XI and Ludwig von Pastor went to Feldkirch to conduct joint research with Jesuit professors of the Stella. After the outbreak of World War I, the Stella lost much of its international flair and educated mainly students from German speaking counties among them much of the Catholic aristocracy. The religious spirit of Stella Matutina manifested itself in the occupational choices after graduation. Over twenty of the graduates (1896-1938) entered the priesthood, many of them the order of the Jesuits.

Sports: Stalking Play and Soccer
According to Feldkirch authorities, in the late 19. century, English students introduced soccer to the Stella, and thus to Austria. This is debatable. From 1856 on, sports at the Stella was dominated by the now defunct  stalking play, "soccer on stalks". The stalks, usually made from wood, were relatively short. They reached "with a transverse grab handle up to the middle of the thigh ... where they were clasped with a firm grip". Arm and leg muscles were activated, by running on stalks and particularly by striking the ball with them.
 * "On the playground there was ... only a gang of savage boys who, a big stalk in each hand, fought like possessed for a leather ball. ... There were some real masters among us, at home on the stalks just as on their own legs. ... As far as I am concerned, I was soon able to overtake in a race a good foot runner, to take obstacles jumping, to hop on one stalk - the other one swinging - across the whole width of the yard." Since the stalking play "was played with fanaticism" there were dangerous wounds: broken legs, lost teeth etc. . And there were always quarrels among the players: "They hit with the stalks."

Because of these violent consequences, Stalking play was forbidden at the Stella Matutina and   the "entombment of the stalks did not take place without streams of tears". The students went on strike, and the Jesuits permitted the less violent soccer version to be played. Unlike today soccer, the players were allowed to use hands and there was no referee.

Not only soccer was popular. The pride of the school was a larger than Olympic size in-door pool, which was completed in 1912, the only one in Austria-Hungary at the time. A delegation from the ministry in Vienna complained in 1912, that there is no other school in Austria with an indoor pool, not to mention such a large one. 120 years ago, ninety minutes were available in the afternoon on a daily basis for sports. The students had six large play grounds, which  were  converted for ice skating and hockey games in winter times.

Famous staff & alumni
Stella Matutina had a serious of well known professors and educators ; among them, Franz Xavier Wernz, the General of the Jesuit Order; the Swiss theologian  Hans Urs von Balthasar; Cardinal Franz Ehrle; Professor and Rector of Innsbruck University,  Hugo Rahner; social reformer Pesch; Max Pribilla, and Erich Przywara liberal authors; Papal advisor, scholar and superior, Otto Faller. Resistance fighters against the Nazis the martys Alfred Delp and Alois Grimm; others survived concentration camps, Friedrich Muckermann and Augustin Rösch. Professors Oswald von Nell-Breuning and Rudolf Cornely. Some of them were previous students, such as Jesuit General Franz Xavier Wernz and Cardinal Franz Ehrle also Professor Johann Baptist Singenberger. ; Other Stella Matutina students included: The President of the German Catholic Association, Aloys Prinz zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg; "The Lion of Münster", Blessed Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen and the last Chancellor of Austria before the Adolf Hitler take-over in 1938, Kurt Schuschnigg, Heiner Geißler, Rory Muckian-no mates... Renowned History and Geography teacher,and founder of OA (Overweight Anonymous), Lorcan Duffy(Dragon) Manager of 10km nature walks and alcohol consumption(vodka), Brian McDonnell Husband of 14 year-old hungarian student

Resistance against National Socialism
to be completed

Closing and Reopening of the school
to be completed

Sexual abuse scandal
In 2010, Padre Wolfgang S. admitted to several acts of sexual abuse of minors during his years as a teacher in Sankt Blasius from 1982 to 1984.

Literature

 * Alex Blöchlinger SJ Die Bewegte Geschichte des Kollegs Stella Matutina von 1856-1938 und 1946-1979; Illustrierte Buchausgabe: Bucher Verlag, Hohenems 2006, 155 Seiten, ISBN 978-3902525-52-9
 * Otto Faller SJ 25 Jahre Kolleg St.Blasien, in: "Kollegbrief 1959" Kolleg St. Blasien (Hrsg), St. Blasien 1959, Seiten 20-25;
 * Albert Heitlinger SJ Über alte Jesuitenkollegien und ihre Pädagogik in: "Kollegbrief Weihnachten 1954" Kolleg St. Blasien (Hrsg), St. Blasien 1954
 * Josef Knünz SJ 100 Jahre Stella Matutina 1856-1956 J.N.Teutsch, Bregenz 1956;
 * Alois Koch SJ, Play and Sport at the Jesuit College "Stella Matutina" in Feldkirch, Published in: W. Schwank (and others ed.): Begegnung. Schriftenreihe zur Geschichte der Beziehung zwischen Christentum und Sport, volume 4. Aachen 2003
 * Josef Stiglmayr SJ Festschrift zur Feier des Fünfzigjährigen Pensionats U L F Stella Matutina in Feldkirch Feldkirch, Austria, 1906;
 * Stella Matutina (Hrsg.) 75 Jahre Stella Matutina Band 1-3; Selbstverlag, Feldkirch, Austria, 1931; Band I: Abhandlungen von Mitgliedern des Lehrkörpers; Band II: Abhandlungen von ehemaligen Zöglingen; Band III: Stellazeiten und Stellaleben, geschildert von Zöglingen mit 103 Bildtafeln;
 * Stella Matutina Jahresberichte, Stella Matutina Feldkirch, (annual reports)
 * Anton Ludewig SJ Briefe und Akten zur Geschichte des Gymnasiums und des Kollegs der Gesellschaft Jesu in Feldkirch (1649–1773) in: Jahresberichten des Privatgymnasiums Stella Matutina (1908–1911);

Other Jesuit Colleges in Germany

 * Aloisiuskolleg, Bonn
 * Canisius-Kolleg Berlin