Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/433

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HOGAN


383


HOGAM


came a member of the Bohemian Diet, in 1872 a life member of the Austrian House of Lords. In this latter year he was raised to the hereditary nobility and received the order of the Iron Crown. In politics he was one of the leaders of the German-Bohemian party, a branch of the constitutional party of that period, and was one of the chief opponents of the Czechs. From 1872, however, he almost practically retired from politics, partly from the increasing oppo- sition which grew up in the German parties in Austria against "Catholicism", partly because the clerical party was drawing closer to the Slavs. Conflicts were . imavoidable ; on the one hand he was a thorough German, absolutely convinced of the great mission of the Germans in Austria, on the other he was one of the most faithful sons of the Catholic Church. Conse- quently he gradually withdrew from party politics, without losing, however, his strong interest in the struggles of the mostly anticlerical German-Bohe- mians against the Czechs, and devoted himself entirely to the cultivation of German sentiment and intellectual life. By his activity, both as teacher and author, he became the founder of the modern school of German- Bohemian historical research, which received enthusi- astic support from the Society founded by him, in 1862, for the study of the history of the German ele- ment in Bohemia, and in consequence ranks as one of the most deservedly respectetl historians of Austria. Hofler gave special attention to the history of the Hussite movement and reached the conclusion that it was directed less against the papacy than against the German power in Bohemia and against the cities. He characterized the movement as " an unsympathetic historical phenomenon, a movement foredoomed to failure, which soon became a burden to itself". He saw in Hus only an antagonist of Germanism, the destroyer of the University of Prague and of the sciences. His works on Hussitism are: "Geschichts- schreiber der husitischen Bewegung" (185G-66), in three volumes; "Magister Johannes Hus und der Abzug der deutschen Professoren und Stiident«n aus Frag 1409" (18G4); "Concilia Pragensia, 135.3-1413" (18(32). These historical investigations involved Hofler in a violent literary feud with Frantisek Palack^^, the official liistoriographer of Bohemia, an enthusiastic representative of Czech interests, and the indefatigable champion of Slavic supremacy in Bo- hemia. But as the scientific proofs produced by Hofler were indisputable he was victorious in this controversy and broke down Palack5s hitherto un- questioned authority as a historian. These exhaus- tive studies in Bohemian history led Hofler to deeper research into the history of the Slavic races. In his " Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der slawischen Geschichte" (1879-82), five volumes, he showed how the Slavic element had always warred against the German element; in the same work he emphasized strongly the importance of the German element in the development of Bohemia.

In other works Hofler treated the ecclesiastical reform movements among the Romanic peoples. The most important of this class of his writings is: "Die romanische Welt imd ihr Verhaltnis zu den Reformi- deen des Mittelalters" (1878). C/thers are: "Der Aufstand der kastillianischen Stadte gegen Karl V" (1876); "Zur Kritik und Quellenkunde der ersten Regierungsjahre Kaiser Karls V" (1876-83), in three parts; "Der deutsche Kaiser und der letzte deutsche Papst, Karl V und Adrian VI" (1876); "Papst Adrian VI" (1880) in which he proves that this pope was the author of Catholic reform in the sixteenth century. We are also indebted to him for the two volumes of "Monumenta Hispanica" (1881-82). Hofler's contributions to the history of the Hohen- zollern family are to be found in: " Denkwiirdigkeiten des Ritters Ludwig von Eyb" (1849), and in the monograph " Barbara, Markgrafin von Brandenburg"


(1867). Other works worthy of notice are: two volumes of "Abhandkmgen zur Geschichte Oester- reichs" (1871-72); " Kritische Untersuchungen uber die Quellen der Geschichte Konig Philipps des Scho- nen" (1883); " Bonifatius, der Apostel der Deutschen, und die Slawenapostel Konstantinos (Cyrillus) und Methodius" (1887). He also published many papers in the " Denkschriften der k.k. Akademie der Wissen- schaften", in the "Pontes rerum Austriacarum", and in the "Zeitschrift des Vereins filr die Gesch. der Deutschen in Bohmen".

Hofler also wrote a number of historical dramas in verse, as well as elegant and thoughtful epigrams; his poetical works, however, met with but moderate success. Hoflerwasaneminentman. Endowedwitha keen mind, and profound observation, as well as with many physical advantages, strong health and manly beauty, he succeeded, by hard work and " indefati- gable self-discipline" says his successor Bachmann, "in surmounting many initial difficulties and later obstacles and in reaching the high position of a generally respected savant and teacher: he attained the broad views and experience of a statesman, and the sure and harmonious bearing of a sage. Himself the embodiment of kindliness and goodness, to such a degree that he strove to lend assistance where assist- ance was neither possible nor timely, he anxiously sought to respect the individuality of others and to be a model of courtesy and fairness, not merely to appear such".

Mitteih/ngen drs Vereins fiir die Geschichte der Deutschen in Bdhmen, XXXVI (1898). ■.iSX-AU; Biographisches Jahrbuch, II, 209-11; Allgemeine deutsche Biographic (190.5), L. 42S-.33.

Patricius Schlageu.

Hogan, John Baptist, better known, on account of his long sojourn in France, as Abb^ Hogan, b. near Ennis in County Clare, Ireland, 24 June, 1S29; d. at Saint-Sulpice, Paris, 29 September, 1901. His earlier years were spent in Ireland, but an uncle, who was a priest in the Diocese of P^rigueux in France, brought him to that country at the age of fifteen and placed him in the preparatory seminary of Bordeaux. To his early training in this institution, where he soon evinced a more than ordinary talent and power of adaptation, was due the thorough mastery which he acquired of the French language, as also his perfect assimilation of the French spirit and ways, albeit without prejudice to his command of Eng- lish, or to the qualities characteristic of a thoroughly Irish temperament.

Having completed his classical studies, he entered the theological seminary of Bordeaux, and, as at the end of his course he was too young to receive orders, he went, in 1849, to the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, where he followed a post-graduate course of theology for two years. Then, feeling called to the work of clerical education, he entered the "Solitude" or novitiate of the Sulpicians at Issy, and was or- dained to the priesthood, 5 June, 1852. The following September, not having yet completed his twenty- third year, he was appointed to the chair of dogmatic theology in the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, where from the outset he gave evidence of those rare qualities which constitute the teaching faculty, and made him so eminent as an instructor. During the ensuing


Abbe Hogan