Joseph Charles Benziger (1762–1841) was the founder of

RCL Benziger RCL Benziger is a Roman Catholic book-publishing house founded in 1792 by Joseph Charles Benziger in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. It is currently based in Cincinnati, Ohio, and operates as a subsidiary of Kendall Hunt Publishing. History The com ...

, a Catholic publishing house, and president of

Feldkirch District The Bezirk Feldkirch is an administrative district (''Bezirk'') in Vorarlberg, Austria. Area of the district is 278.26 km2, population is 100,656 (2012), and population density 362 persons per km2. Administrative center of the district is Fe ...

Biography

Benziger was born in 1762 in

Einsiedeln, Switzerland Einsiedeln () is a municipality and district in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland known for its monastery, the Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey, established in the 10th century. History Early history There was no permanent settlement in the area ...

. His relative Karl Benziger had begun selling religious articles in 1716, renting a business from the local

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

order and traveling through Europe to sell his goods, a business continued and expanded by his son Sales Benziger. Joseph Charles took up the family business in 1792, but he soon felt the effects of the French Revolution. The

French invasion of Switzerland The French invasion of Switzerland () occurred from January to May 1798 as part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The independent Old Swiss Confederacy collapsed from the invasion and simultaneous internal revolts called the "Helvetic Revolution ...

forced him to take flight with his family, and for about a year they resided at Feldkirch,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, where his eldest son, Charles, was born. In 1800, Benziger and his family returned to Einsiedeln, which had been devastated by pillage and army requisitions. Benziger, who had lost most of his fortune in the war, rebuilt his business as a Catholic printing house. His sons Charles and Nicholas inherited the company in 1833, naming it Benziger Brothers; it continued under that name until 2007, when it merged with the publisher Resources for Christian Living and took the name

. Benziger was also politically active, serving as president of Feldkirch District during the famine of 1817.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benziger, Joseph Charles Swiss publishers (people) Swiss booksellers 1762 births 1841 deaths 19th-century Swiss businesspeople People from Einsiedeln