History of the KU and the Faculty of Theology
November 16, 1564
The Prince-Bishop of Eichstätt, Martin von Schaumberg, founds the Collegium Willibaldinum as the first Tridentine seminary for priestly education north of the Alps. With the rapid implementation of the seminary decree passed at the Council of Trent in 1563, he wanted to train morally stable priests and thus counteract the "terrible defectum personarum" caused by the Reformation.
August 28, 1565
Prince-Bishop Martin von Schaumberg concludes an incorporation agreement with the University of Ingolstadt, which places Eichstätt's artistic studies on an equal footing with those of Ingolstadt. The Willbaldinum retains its special school character.
1614 to 1774
The Collegium Willibaldinum is a "Gymnasium academicum" under the direction of the Jesuit order. Following their secondary school education, candidates for the priesthood complete a two to three-year pastoral course in which logic, casuistry and controversial theology are taught. The unity of education and teaching with a community life separate from the world, as provided for in the Tridentine seminary decree, is not possible in Eichstätt, as the college cannot run a theological convent with only 20 Jesuits. In Ingolstadt, the first Jesuits – including Petrus Canisius – had already been appointed in 1549 to avert a collapse in theological teaching.
1768
Bishop Raimund Anton von Strasoldo (1757 - 1781) issues the Instructio Pastoralis Eystettensis. At this time, pastoral theology emerged as a new academic discipline.
1774 to 1807
Continuation of the "Gymnasiums academicum" as a lyceum by secular priests. Many ex-Jesuits remained in Eichstätt as teachers after the abolition of the order in 1773.
1783
The coexistence of the former Jesuit order school and the episcopal graduate seminary, which had become superfluous, was brought to an end by merging them in the old seminary. Up to 500 pupils study at the grammar school and "episcopale et academicum lyceum". The Revolutionary Wars and the annexation of the Hochstift to a brief period of Salzburg rule in 1803 put an end to the Lyceum's first heyday.
1807
Secularization and mediatization as a result of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803 do not affect Eichstätt until 1806 with the annexation to Bavaria. The lyceum is abolished.
June 14, 1843
Bishop Karl August Graf von Reisach establishes an ecclesiastical lyceum, which is legally equivalent to the state lyceums. This marks the breakthrough in Eichstätt for the church's own clergy training. The rector of the seminary is also the rector of the lyceum by virtue of his office. This regulation remains in place until 1950. The range of subjects includes systematic and practical philosophy as well as the history of philosophy, psychology, world and general history, mathematics and physics, chemistry and natural history, pedagogy (since 1848), dogmatics, morals, canon law, exegesis, pastoral theology, church history and liturgy.
With the appointment of Joseph Ernst, who had studied at the Roman Germanicum, Bishop Reisach set the course for neo-Scholasticism. In Eichstätt, it has well-known representatives such as the philosophers Albert Stöckl and Mathias Schneid or the dogmatist Franz von Paula Morgott. Early on, however, there was also a historically distanced debate, for example by the liturgist Valentin Thalhofer, but above all by Martin Grabmann, who was appointed to Eichstätt in 1906.
1873 to 1893
During the period of the so-called ‘Kulturkampf’, the Lyceum accepts numerous theology students from all over the German-speaking world, in particular candidates for the priesthood from Switzerland. The number of students rose from 41 in 1870/71 to 302 in the academic year 1885/86. As the central "seminary for Germany", the Lyceum experiences a second heyday.
February 26, 1924
The Lyceum is renamed the Episcopal Philosophical-Theological College.
1933 to 1950
Dr. Konrad Graf von Preysing-Lichtenegg-Moos, Bishop of Eichstätt, is a staunch opponent of National Socialism. Among his friends was the Eichstätt Capuchin Ingbert Naab, who wrote an open letter to Hitler in 1932: "Rarely has a man demanded so much mental servitude as you, the herald of German freedom." A similar attitude can also be found among the Eichstätt professors.
In 1937, the canon lawyer Dr. Joseph Lechner wrote an open letter to Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels under the pseudonym Michael Germanicus, accusing him of claiming that there was no longer any objective judiciary in Germany. During the reign of National Socialism and in the post-war period, Eichstätt accepts theology students from 42 German and non-German dioceses as well as from 35 religious orders, including as per tradition the candidates for the priesthood from Speyer as well as the Capuchins and Salesians. For the third time, the University receives supra-regional recognition.
October 4, 1940
The Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Culture withdraws the public rights of the Philosophical-Theological University. It will continue to operate as an ecclesiastical university.
March 7, 1946
The Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Culture restores all original rights. As the university buildings in Munich and Würzburg are partially destroyed, Eichstätt temporarily accepts up to 1,000 students from various disciplines, so that medicine, law, natural sciences etc. are taught alongside theology.
1949
The course catalog for the summer semester of 1949 lists a number of high-ranking lecturers in philosophy and theology, including the catechist Ludwig Bruggaier, the canon lawyer Joseph Lechner, the New Testament scholar Joseph Kürzinger, the dogmatist Ludwig Ott, the Old Testament scholar Martin Rehm, who had succeeded Franz Xaver Wutz in 1938, the fundamental theologian and church historian Rudolf Graber, appointed Bishop of Regensburg in 1962, the moral and pastoral theologian Alfons Fleischmann, as well as the physicist and mathematician Johannes Stigler, who was also Rector and Regens, the chemist, biologist and geologist Franz Xaver Mayr, and finally the philosopher Johannes Hirschberger, the educationalist and philosopher Friedrich Dörr and the historian Andreas Bauch.
July 2, 1958
By resolution of the Conference of Bavarian Bishops, a Church College of Education is founded in Eichstätt. Its initiator, pastoral theologian Alfons Fleischmann, is pushing ahead with the construction so that the opening can take place as early as November 4. On October 31, 1958, the Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Culture grants the Eichstätt University of Education state approval.
1958 to 1972
The teacher training college is steadily expanded. The number of students increases from 123 in the 1958/59 winter semester to 529 in the 1971/72 winter semester. Due to a lack of living space, two dormitories are built: the "Maria Ward" for female students in 1960 and the "St. Michael" for male students two years later.
July 1960
The World Missionary Catechetical Congress is organized by the Eichstätt teacher training college.
May 5, 1972
The Bavarian bishops decide to merge the two ecclesiastical universities in Eichstätt into a comprehensive university, including the newly established university of applied sciences courses.
August 2, 1972
The Bavarian bishops sign the deed of foundation of the ‘Kirchliche Gesamthochschule Eichstätt’. On September 29, state approval is granted for the establishment and operation of the ‘Kirchliche Gesamthochschule’, and on December 8, the opening ceremony is held by Julius Cardinal Döpfner.
September 30, 1975
With the establishment of the Department of Philosophy II, the University now has three academic departments: Catholic Theology, Philosophy I with Education and Social Sciences and Philosophy II with Religious Education, Church Education and Social Work.
April 5, 1979
The Bavarian Bishops' Conference decides to confer the name Catholic University of Eichstätt on the ‘Gesamthochschule Eichstätt’.
March 1980
An exchange of notes between the Apostolic See and the Free State of Bavaria stipulates that the parties to the Concordat agree to run the Eichstätt University as an academic university within the meaning of the Bavarian Higher Education Act and to give it the name Catholic University of Eichstätt.
April 1, 1980
Decree of the Congregation for Catholic Education, with which the Eichstätt University is also established as a Catholic University under canon law.
June 8, 1988
State funding is extended to Diploma, Magister and postgraduate courses. An amendment to the Concordat allows the establishment of a Faculty of Economics in Ingolstadt, which is founded in 1989.
September 27, 1989
Establishment of new Basic Rules with the division into eight faculties (including two university of applied sciences degree programs).
September 21, 2001
A new version of the Basic Rules comes into force. The University is given the name Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU). This reflects the importance of the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics in Ingolstadt, which now has more than 900 students out of a total of 4,000. In addition to various structural reforms, collective University Management is introduced.