FUSCHI
326
FUST
and through his influence warded off many a calamity
from the city and principality of Miinster.
After the death of Clemens August, Elector of Cologne and Prince-Bishop of Miinster, on 6 February, 1761, it was chiefly through the influence of Fiirsten- berg that Maximilian Friedrich von Konigseck-Rothen- fels, who had succeeded Clemens August at Cologne (6 April, 1761), was also elected Prince-Bishop of Mun- ■ster in September, 1762. In recognition for these ser- vicesthe new prince-bishop entrusted Fiirstenbergwith thetemporal andspiritual administration of thePrince- Bishopric of Munstcr. In 1762 he appointed him privy councillor and minister and, in 1770, vicar- general and curator of educational institutions. No better man could have been found to manage the tem- poral and spiritual affairs of the Prince-Bishopric of Miinster which had suffered severely during the Seven Years War. Everybody was deep in debt and all trade and commerce was at a standstill. To restore prosperity to the people he improved agricultural con- ditions by dividing the land into marks, draining marshes and reclaiming much soil which hitherto had Iain iflle or in pasturage. He ameliorated the condition of the serfs and gave an impulse to the entire abolition of serfdom. In order to liquidate the public debt he placed a duty on such imported goods as could be easily dispensed with, and for a space of six years levied a moderate capitation tax from which the priv- ileged estates were not exempted. He improved the military and the sanitary system, the former by found- ing a military academy at Miinster and by introducing the "Landwehr", the latter by founding a college of medicine (177.3) and inducing its director, the learned Christopher Ludwig Hoffmann, to draw up a code of medicinal regulations which was justly admired throiighoiit Germany as a model of its kind.
The greatest achievement of Fiirstenberg was his reform of the educational system. During the latter half of the eighteenth century the higher educational institutions of Germany had become veritable hotbeds of rationalism and irreligion, and not infrequently pro- nounced freethinkers were engaged to instruct the candidates for the priesthood. These conditions were not only permitted but often directly favoured by a few unworthy but influential prelates, among whom must be numbered Fiirstenberg's superior, Max Fried- rich, the Elector of Cologne and Prince-Bishop of Miin- ster. To counteract this state of affairs, Furstenberg planned a reform of the ediicational institutions in the Diocese of Miinster. Luckily he was not hampered in this by his superior, the prince-bishop. He began his reform with the gymnasium, as the basis of the educa- tion of the future Catholic priest, whom he considered the chief leader and teacher of the people. After con- sulting with acknowledged educators, especially the Jesuits who then directed the gymnasium of Miinster, he drew up a tentative plan for the gymnasium in 1770, which, after a few changes, was enforced by his famous school ordinance of 1776. According to the new plan great stress was laid on a thorough training in theoretical and practical Christianity, and a course in Catholic philosophy was added to the curriculum. In the same year he turned the recently suppressed con- vent of Ueberwasser at Miinster into a seminary where the hitherto neglected candidates for the priesthood could receive the requisite moral training. Fiir- stenberg then directed his attention towards the com- pletion of the new University of Miinster (approved in 177.'5) where, as an effectual safeguard against rational- istic tendencies, he appointed to professorial duties only men who had been educiilcd :\i the soluiols of his diocese and whom he know to In- lirnilv grounded in their Faith. To the most talented of these hi^ olfcred every opportunil y to prepare for professorial positions and even gave them the means to pursue special courses at foreign universities.
Fiirstenberg's political activity came to » close in
1780, when Maximilian Franz, the brother of Emperor
Joseph II of Austria, was elected coadjutor to Maxi-
milian Friedrich as Archbishop of Cologne and Prince
Bishop of Munster. Fiirstenberg himself had aspired
to this position and undoubtedly would have been
elected if it had not been for the great influence of the
Court of Vienna which favoured the election of Maxi-
milian Franz. Fiirstenberg was obliged to resign the
ministry but was allowed to retain the office of vicar-
general and curator of education. He now turned his
entire attention towards the remodelling of element-
ary education. Through his ordinances for elementary
schools in 1782, 1788, and ISOl, he freed the system of
elementary education of at least the most striking
abuses. In order to obtain zealous and competent
teachers he founded a normal school in 178.3, which
he put in charge of the famous educator, Bernard
Overberg. After Prussia had taken possession of Miin-
ster in 1803, Fiirstenberg's influence over the educa-
tional system began to decline, and when in 1805
he protested against the appointment of a professor
of Protestant theology at the Catholic University of
Miinster, he was honourably dismissed as curator of
education on the plea of old age. In 1807 he also re-
signed the position of vicar-general. Fiirstenberg's
renown as an educator had drawn .some of the greatest
minds of Europe to Miinster, among them the Princess
Amelia von Gallitzin, in whose return to the Catholic
Faith from which she had become estranged in her
youth, he was greatly instrumental.
EsSER, Franz von Fiirstenberg (Munster, 1842); EsCH. Franz von Fiirstenberg in Bibliothek der kath. Pddagogik (Freiburg im Br., 1S91). IV, 59-310; Galland in Hisl. Pol. Blatter, LXXXII, LXXXIII, LXXXV, LXXXVI; Nordhofp in Allpemeine Deutsche Biographie, s. v.; Bruhl, Die Tatigkeit dcs Alinistera Franz Freiherr von Fiirstenberg auf dcm Gebiete der innarenPoli- tik dcs Fiirstbistums Minister 1763-1780 (Munster, 1995).
Michael Ott.
Fuschi, Michael. See Michael of Oesena.
Fussola, a titular see in Numidia. It was a forti- fied town, inhabited for the most part by Donatists and situated forty miles from Hippo. St. Augustine appointed as its first Catholic bishop, about 416, a young man named Antonius, who afterwards caused him much anxiety (Ceillier, "Histoire gfin^rale des auteurs sacres et eccl&iastiques", Paris, 1861, VIII, 11 sqq.). A certain Melior is known to have been bishop in 484 (Gams, 465, col. 3), and the see still existed in the seventh century (Byzantische Zeit- schrift, II, 26). The fortress of Fossala completed the defences of Hippo. S. Vailhe.
Fust (or Faust), John, a partner of Gutenberg in promoting the art of printing, d. at Paris about 1466. He belonged to a wealthy family of Mainz, but very little is known of his early life. In 1450 he became a partner of Gutenberg in the establishment of a print- ing plant at Mainz, Fust furnishing the capital and taking a mortgage on the tools and materials as secu- rity. The partners carried on the business for several years, but the partnership was dissolved in 1455, when Fust brought suit against Gutenberg for the money that he had advanced and obtained possession of the printing apparatus. The business was then continued by Fust with his son-in-law, Peter Schoffer, of Gern- sheim, as partner. In 1462, when Mainz was sacked, Fust's workmen were scattered, and they carried with them to various countries the printing process which had been guarded as a secret in Mainz. Fust continued the business, however, until about 1466, when he is thought to have gone to Paris and to have died there of tlic iilague. Among the books that were issued from the press of Fust and Gutenberg the best known is the magnificent Latin "Bible of forty-two lines" (see illustration s. v. Editions of the Bible), so called because it was printed forty-two lines to the page. It is known also as the Mazaria Bible, because the tirst
