Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/49

 6REIFSWALD

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6REITH

the Mechitarists, Venice, 1843; in French by Le Vaillant DE Florival. Paris, 1847; Italian by Tommaseo, Venice, 1850) uses AgathanKelos. See Gutschmid, Moses von Chorene in his Kleine Schrifleu, III, 332 sqq.; and Carrikre, Nouvdtes sources de Motse de Khoren (Vienna, 1893). Faustus of By- zantium (fifth centnry) tells the story of the conversion of Ar- menia (Armenian tr. , Venice, 1832); French by Langlois, Collection des historiens anciens et modemes de V Arminie (2 vols., Paris, 1867, 1869), I; German by Lauer (Cologne, 1879). Gelzer. Die Anptnge der armenischen Kirche in Silzungsbe- richte der GotUnger Gesellschaft (189.5), 109 sqq. Thumaian, Agathangetos et la doctrine de I'Eglise armrnienne au V Steele (Lausanne, 1879). The so-called letters between Pope Silves- ter I and St. Gregory are printed in Azarian, Ecclesice armenice tradiiio de Romani pontificis primatu (Rome, 1870).

Adrian Fortescue.

Greifswald, University of, the oldest university of Prussia, founded in 14.")6. Even before this, Greifs- wald had, for a short time, been the seat of a uni- versity. In 1436, when on account of dissensions among the townspeople, the University of Rostock was placed under interdict by the Council of Basle, it was removed to Greifswald with the consent of the same council, where it remained for seven years. After the return of the university to Rostock, six professors remained at Greifswald, whereupon the burgomaster, Heinrich Rubenow, himself a doctor of laws and a member of one of the most influential and aristocratic families of the city, conceived the idea of establishing a university in his native city. Pope Callistus III issued the Bull of foundation on 29 May, 14.")6, and on 17 October the dedication of the new university took phice, Rubenow, as vice- chancellor and first rector, admitting 173 .students to matriculation. The Bishop of Kammin was chancellor of the university, for the support of which Duke Wra- tislaw IX of Pomerania and his successors set apart, in addition to certain sums of money, the revenues from certain villages and monasteries. He and Ru- benow also established, in connexion with the church of St. Nicholas, a college of canons, the members of which were at the same time teachers in the univer- sity. During the first years the Greifswald jjro- fessors were frequently drawn from Rostock and Leipzig, and among them, as among the students, were many Danes and Swedes. At the instance of the Greifswald council, the preacher Johann Knipstro proclaimed the reformed doctrines in the city. Duke Philipp I, who being the son of Palatine Princess Amalie, had been educated at the court of Hcidellierg, in 1.534 introduced the Reformation into his terri- tories, thus becoming the founder of the Lutheran Church in Pomerania. The confusion and dissen- sions of these years affected the university seriousl.y; for twelve years the lectures were entirely suspended. They were resumed in 1539, under the auspices of the Reformers, with one professor for each of the three upper faculties, the university being established in the suppressed Dominican monastery.

Pliilipp I and his sons, in compensation for its property which had been turned over to the Reformed Church, entlowed the university with the land of sup- pressed monasteries. During the Thirty Years War the city and LTniversity of Greifswald suffered severely. In 1562 the last Duke of Pomerania, who was without issue, settled on the university as patrimony the former Cistercian Abbey of Eldena, with all its es- tates, inclufling about twenty villages, in order that the arrears of salary might be paid to the professors, and their future provided for. Although this mo- nastic property was in a sadly neglected condition and heavily burdened with debt, the ten professors acceptefl the royal gift, which, however, did not yield sufficient revenue to maintain the professors until after the war with Norway and Sweden. When, in 1637, Pomerania was annexed to Sweden, of which it remained a possession after the Peace of Westphalia, 1648, Queen Christine repeatedly assisted the Greifs- wald professors from the royal treasury. During the war between Brandenburg and Sweden, and likewise

during the Northern War, the university suffered frequent and serious injury, its property was confis- cated and the university was almost deserted. Not until after the Peace of Stockholm (1720) was order restored. In 1730 the foundation of the Society for the Collection and Investigation of National History and Law (Gesellsch.aft zur Sammlung und Erf orschung fur die Landesgeschichte und das Landes- recht) and the German Society for the Cultiva- tion of the German Language and German Poetry (Deutsche Gesellschaft fiir die Veredelung der deutscheii Sprache und Dichtung) occasioned lively literary activity.

In 1775 Gustavus III imposed on the university a new constitution affecting the organization of the teaching body, the several institutions of learning, the administration of its property, and laws governing the student body. By the second Peace of Vienna, in 1815, Swedish Pomerania was ceded to the King- dom of Prussia, and the University of Greifswald, which had suffered greatly during the Napoleonic wars, gradually became a highly respected school for science, especially for medicine and positive theology. The institutions connected with the universit_y were at the same time improved and enlarged, and" many new ones were founded and organized along the most approved lines, e. g. the zoological, anatomical, and physiological institutes, the botanical garden, the institutes of chemistry antl physics, the library, and the clinics. In the exhibition of modern lecture- halls, operating rooms, and equipment, at the World's Fair of St. Louis, the surgical and woman's clinic of Greifswald received one of the five grand prizes that went to Germany. The increase in the re\-enues of the estates belonging to the university helped greatly to defray the expenses of the new institutions. The forest land alone yields an annual income of approxi- mately twenty-five thousand dollars, and the rentals over a hundred thousand dollars. During the scho- lastic year 1908-09, 786 students attended the univer- sity. Of late years the competition of Kiel and Miinster and of the universities established in the larger cities has so affected Greifswald that now the number of students enrolled is less than at any other Prussian university.

Kosegarten, Geschichte der Universitot Greifswald (Greifs- wald, 18.57): Die Matrikel der Universitdt Greifswald (until 1700) (Leipzig, 1893).

Kabl Hoeber.

Greith, Karl Johann, bishop and church histor- ian, b. at Rapperswyl, Switzerland, 25 May, 1807; d. at St. Gall, 17 May, 1882. He received his early edu- cation at St. Gall, then went to the lyceum at Lucerne and the University of Munich; at the university he studied theology, philosophy, and history, and was fortunate enough to meet with the fatherly protection of the famous Joseph von Gorres. In 1829 he went to Paris to perfect him.self in library work ; while there he decided to enter the priesthood and completed his theological studies in the Sulpician seminary of that city. He was ordained priest in 1831, and was made sub-librarian of St. Gall, also sub-regent and professor of the ecclesiastical seminary. During the ecclesias- tico-political troubles which soon after distracted his fatherland, Greith was prominent with pen and voice in defence of the Catholic Church. He was, consequently, deprived of his oflSces, wherefore he went to Rome, at the instance of the English Government, f(5r the purpose of collecting documents in the Roman libra- ries and archives relating to English history. After the restoration of peace he devoted himself to parochial work in St. GaU, was made dean of the cathedral in 1847, professor of philosophy in 1853, and was conse- crated Bishop of St. Gall in 1862. From early youth he had been an intimate friend of Dcillinger, and at the Vatican Coimcil he held, in regard to the question of Papal Infallibility, that a dogmatic decision was unad-