Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/52

 IKNOCENTIUS

24

imiSBRUCK

Innocentius, Saints. — A number of saints are to be found bearing the name Innocentius, but only three besides Pope Innocent I seem to deserve special mention.

I. St. Innocentius, Bishop of Tortona, in Italy, probably in the fourth century. A legendary "Vita" of St. Innocentius relates that he was thrown into a dungeon tluring the persecution of Diocletian, and later fled to Rome, where he was afterwards made a ileacon of the Roman Church by Pope Sylvester, and was finally consecrated Bishop of Tortona. The nar- rative, however, rests on no historical foundation and is of comparatively late origin, proiiably appearing for the first time in the twelfth century. As a matter of fact, however, Innocentius was one of the first, if not actually the first of the bishops of Tortona. From the earliest times, the Church of Tortona celebrated not only the day of his death, 17 April, but also the day of his consecration as Ijishop, 24 September. It is to be remarked tliat the custom of celebrating in a special manner the day of consecration of a bishop became widespread in the fourth and fifth centuries. More- over, the tomb of Innocentius is beneath the high altar of the okl cathedral of Tortona. These special dis- tinctions accorded to the holy bishop can best be ex- plained by regarding him as the first bishop of that city.

Positive chronological proof exists of the occupation of the See of Tortona by one Exuperantius, who at- tended the Council of Aquileia in 381. From a letter written in exile by Euselnus of Vercelli to his conmiu- nity in 35Q, we are further informed that at that time Tortona still belonged to the Diocese of Vercelli. The episcopate, therefore, of St. Innocentius, whom we presume to have l5cen the first Bishop of Tortona, is to be placed somewhere in the period between 360 and 380.

Ada SS., April, II, 482-86; Mombritius, Sancluarium, II, fol. 27-29; S.\vio, La leffende des Sts Faustin et Jovite in Ana- lecta BoUandiana, XV (1896), 1 sqq.; Idem, Gli antichi vescovi d'ltalia, II Piemonte (Turin, 1898), 377 sqq.

II. St. Innocentius, according to legend, Bishop of Justiniana (Adrumetum?) in Africa, in the fourth cen- tury. He is venerated at Gaeta in Italy. It would seem that towards the end of his life he went to Italy, where he died; and that his body was afterwards translated to Gaeta. The commemoration of his feast takes place on 7 May.

Ada SS., II, May, 138, 39; Morcelli, Africa Christiana, I (Brescia, 1816), 68.

III. St. Innocentius (Innocens), Bishop of Le Mans, France; d. 559. He was the seventh bishop, and assisted at the Synods of Orleans held in 533 and 541 . In all probability, he was bishop as early as 524. According to the " Acta" of the bishops of Le Mans, he restored the cathedral and other churches, and founded or endowed many convents in his diocese. Gregory of Tours mentions his death. His feast is observed on 19 June.

Actus Pontificum Cenomannia in urbe degentium, ed. Mabil- LON, Vetera Anilrcta, III (Paris, 1723); Acta SS., HI, June. 859-60; Duchesne, Pastes episcopaux de I'ancienne Gaute, II (Paris, 1900). 333.

J. P. KiRSCH.

Innocents, Holy. See Holt Innocents.

Innsbruck University, officially the Royal Im- perial Leopold Francis University in Inns- bruck, originated in the college opened at Inns- bruck in 1562 by Blessed Peter Canisius, at the request and on the foundation of the Emperor Ferdi- nand I of .Yustria, who in this way made elTirtive his long-cherished plans for an institute of higher learning for the people of Tyrol. The imperial edict of foun- dation was read from every pulpit in Tyrol on 12 May, 1.562, and the school opened under the direction of the Fathers of tlie newly founded Society of Jesus on

24 June of the same year as a gymnasium with four classes, in which elements, grammar, and syntax were taught. A fifth and lowest class of elements was added in 1566. In 1599 Ferdinand expressed the wish that the programme of studies be widened so as to inclufle a studium universale. This was done, however, only in 1606, when a new building for the gymnasium was completed, whereupon courses in philosophy (dialectics) and theology (casuistry and controversies) were begun, the other subjects being rhetoric, humanities, syntax, and upper and lower grammar. Logic was added in 1619. Until 1670 the erecting of the gymnasium into a university had been repeatedly discussed and planned, but without re- sult. In 1670-71 the course in philosophy was ex- tended to three years; in 1671-72 two chairs of scho- lastic theology were founded, as well as one of law (instUutiones) and in the following year two of juris- prudence and one of canon law. In 1672 also the gym- nasium was raised to the rank of an academy, and in 1673 this academy received the name and rank of a university, although lectures in medicine did not begin until 1674.

The Emperor Leopold I of Austria promulgated the imperial decree of foundation in 1677, and it was in the same year that Pope Innocent XI granted the new university the customary rights and privileges. The faculty then consisted of fifteen professors: five for theology, four each for philosophy and law, and two for medicine. Of these, three of the professors of theology, all of those of philosophy and the professor of canon law in the law faculty were Jesuits; two members of the secular clergy lectured in the first- named faculty, and the rest were laymen. The com- plete organization of these four faculties followed ten years later. The chancellor of the university was the Prince-Bishop of Brixcn, in the Tyrol, who was usually represented in Innsbruck by a vice-chancellor. LTntil 1730 the university remained essentially un- changed. The number of professors rose to eighteen. The eighteen years followmg, however, witnessed a widening of the study plan; the Government of Maria Theresa began to interfere more directly in the inner work of the university. During the next period, from 1748 to 1773, this state domination increased, reaching a maximum under Joseph II. In 1773 when, upon the suppression of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, who up to this had made up one-half of the professors and under whom the theological faculty became the most eminent of the four, ceased to lec- ture, the university numbered 911 students, dis- tributed as follows: 325 in theology, 116 in law, 43 in medicine and 437 in philosophy.

Joseph II published an order for the suppression of the university on 29 November, 1781, but on 14 September, 1782, issued a decree allowing it to be continued as a lyceum with two university faculties, philosophy and theology, and facilities for the study of law and medicine. In 1783 the Government es- tablished at Innsbruck a general theological seminary for the whole of Tyrol, only to close it again in 1790. The university was recalled to life by Joseph's suc- cessor, Leopold II, to be again suppressed by the Bavarian Government in 1810, leaving a lyceum with merely philosophical and theological courses. This condition of affairs lasted until 1817, when courses in law and medicine were added. From the departure of the Jesuits in 1773 until 1822, when it was com- pletely suppressed, the theological faculty, in which the principles of Josephinism and (lallicanism reigned almost supreme, ad been in continual conflict with the Bishop of Brixen, who had no right of supervi- sion, not even over purity of doctrine, which suffered grievously in the interval. At one time even the "Imitation of Christ" was a forbidden book. In 1826 the university was again restored, this time by the Emperor Francis II of Austria. It consisted at