Religious Funds on Slovenian Territory in Historical Context

Matic Batič

Religious Funds on Slovenian Territory in Historical Context

Key words: religious funds, Catholic Church, Joseph II, Josephinism, Catholic Enlightenment

Abstract:
This paper presents a historical overview of origins and development of religious funds on the territory of the present-day Slovenia. The religious funds in the Habsburg lands were founded in the time of Emperor Joseph II who dissolved many monasteries and transferred their property to newly established religious funds. Although the socio-political situation underwent significant changes in the following decades, the religious funds were preserved in comparable forms until 1939, when Kingdom of Yugoslavia transferred their ownership and administration to local dioceses. It is necessary to see the establishment of religious funds in the whole context of their origin, i.e. in the second half of the 18th century, if we want to understand them correctly. The postulates of the so-called Catholic Enlightenment seem essential for their establishment. Enlightened Catholics sought to reconcile their faith with the demands of the Enlightenment philosophy. This philosophical-theological current renounced the Baroque pieties, contemplative religious life being one of them. Religious funds thus had double effect – their establishment removed one unwanted form of Christian life and, at the same time, helped to establish a more »rational« Church which also better served state interests.

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