On the History of the Merano Gymnasium

On the history of the Merano Gymnasium. 1/2

Address at the close of the academic year 1841/42, delivered in Merano on 29 June 1842 *).

There is no lack of men who, having traversed the path of study and entered polite life, frequently declare aloud that, according to the insight they have now gained, if they were granted the choice of reliving the course of their lives, they would never again devote themselves to studies, seeing that the station of an educated man is fraught with so many difficulties and perils. It may seem presumptuous for a barely mature youth, but at the close of my gymnasium years, I declare freely and candidly in the name of my fellow pupils that we do not share this view; that we bless the moment that called us to the higher life of intellectual human formation; and that we feel the deepest gratitude toward the school that raised us from lowliness and placed us upon the free vantage point of scholarship. Though we still have an immeasurable field to traverse, the firm foundation for our education has nonetheless been laid by the gymnasium, and never shall the thought of this blessing fade from our minds. It cannot therefore seem strange that I divert the attention of my listeners from the customary praise of school subjects toward the institution itself, to which we and thousands of others owe our entrance into the realm of virtue and science.

Exactly one hundred years have elapsed since the establishment of the Benedictines of Marienberg as teachers at the Gymnasium in Merano was fully developed and firmly settled, and it is with emotion that we can look back upon the centenary fruit that has thereby ripened to the benefit of our homeland. There is scarcely any post in the country that has not been held with distinction by a former pupil of this gymnasium, and foreign lands, however proud of their own merits, must acknowledge the dignity of an educational institution whose influence has extended into distant regions. It was around the year 1724 that the noble Abbot Johann Murr of Marienberg dispatched the first members of his monastery to this ancient residence of the Tyrolean counts in order to open gymnasial studies for the benefit of the native youth. In the course of time, Merano had sunk into a mournful condition, and of its former splendor nothing remained save its famous name, which was little suited to compensate for its great losses of every kind. The rulers of the land had departed this district to settle permanently in Innsbruck. Many dignitaries had followed the court, drying up a primary source of livelihood for the local populace. Merano's famous annual fairs were eclipsed by those of Botzen, and the newly reopened Kuntersweg gave an entirely different direction to the general flow of trade. Added to this was the frequent devastation caused by the outbursts of the lake in Passeier, completing the impoverishment of the inhabitants.

Thus Merano stood isolated, bereft of the foremost resources for blessed prosperity and aided but little by the prospect of nature's eternally youthful beauty; it was in danger of becoming an open village. Discerning men found in the establishment of the gymnasium the sole means of reviving the town's isolation to some extent and compensating through intellectual education for the material advantages it had lost. For this reason, joy was general when the Benedictines opened the Latin schools in the Seisenegg residence, the house that now belongs to Herr von Breitenberg in Botzen. Yet unfortunately the establishment was little more than a makeshift hedge school. The government hesitated to grant recognition, and narrow-minded burghers failed to grasp its importance because they could not eat the morsel with their spoons. But Providence, the finest guardian of every tender plant born of God, soon found a remedy. Johann Rufin, Aulic Councillor in Munich and a native of Merano, came to the enterprise's aid with an endowment of 8,000 florins. He had left this town as the poor son of a bread inspector with 24 kreuzers in his pocket and had risen through industry and talent to this lucrative post in Bavaria; yet although he ate Bavarian bread, his heart remained Tyrolean. He could not forget his native town and proved it through action. With the money he assigned, construction began in 1729 on the gymnasium building in whose halls I have the honor of speaking, and through the assistance of noble burghers it was completed in short order. Even the government no longer hesitated to confirm a school established with such noble zeal. Yet accommodation was still lacking for the professors, as the Tiefenbrunn residence, on the site of the present boys' seminary, was ill suited to provide an association of friars with proper comfort. The town was neither willing nor able to do anything to remedy this want. Even in Marienberg a faction of shortsighted men arose, who are never absent when something salutary is to be accomplished on earth. They took ill the worthy Abbot Johann Murr's selfless devotion to the education of the homeland's youth, and slights were not wanting that clouded the evening of his meritorious life. In the meantime, however, Abbot Beda Hillebrand had assumed the governance of Marienberg Abbey. As a young man, he had served for several years at this local institution, partly as professor, partly as its prefect. He was of steadfast character, ready to profess freely the principles of his earlier life even in possession of power and to carry them out with energy. In spite of the blind grumblers in his own house and the narrow-mindedness of the town magistrate of that day, he expended 12,000 florins from the abbey's coffers to lay the foundation for the adjoining college building, which, ably advanced by Italian builders, soon rose to serve as the professors' dwelling. Thus, in the year 1742, the keystone was laid for that institution which continues to exist today for the blessing of the country. Time has frequently shaken it, yet its vitality was so powerful, the engagement of the burghers of Merano so resolute, and the cooperation of Marienberg Abbey so accommodating, that no small-mindedness succeeded in destroying the splendid achievement of a century of fruitful influence upon the education of the nation's youth. (Conclusion follows.)

*) The publication of this academic address in these pages is justified by its historical content and its connection to the centenary of the Merano Gymnasium, which ranks among the most proven and capable institutions of its kind in the province.