Rudolf Ritter von Scherer (11 August 1845,

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

– 21 December 1918, Vienna) was an Austrian religious law professor.

Life

Rudolf von Scherer was the son of Anton Ritter von Scherer and of the writer

Sophie Ritter von Scherer Sophie Ritter von Scherer (5 February 1817, Vienna - 29 May 1876, Graz) was an Austrian writer. Life Sophie von Scherer, née Sockl, was born in Vienna, the daughter of the master cabinet-maker and inventor, Johann Gottlieb Sockl and Sophie, n ...

, née Sockl. He received his doctorate in law in 1867 at the University of Graz and was considered a disciple of Friedrich Maassen, who influenced him in the application of the historical method. Then he began the study of

Catholic theology Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on canonical scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholic ...

in Graz in 1869 and was ordained as a priest. After three years in pastoral ministry, he was sent to the higher education institution for

secular priests In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. A secular priest (sometimes known as a diocesan priest) is a priest who commits themselves to a certain geogra ...

the

Frintaneum The Higher Scientific Institute for Diocesan Priests at St. Augustine's (german: Das höheres Weltpriesterbildungsinstitut zum hl. Augustin) in Vienna, also well known as Augustineum or as Frintaneum, was a school for diocesan priests that existed b ...

in Vienna, where he received his second doctorate in 1875, this time in theology. He taught at the University of Graz (from 1875), at first church history, but soon (in 1876) he became the first professor of the newly created Department of Religious Law. In 1899 he went to the University of Vienna, where he remained until his retirement in 1912. Scherer's major work, the textbook of religious law, ''Handbuch des Kirchenrechtes'', garnered high praise. He published only two of the three planned volumes, the first in 1885 and the second in 1891. His creativity decreased after 1911 because of various physical ailments and also because of being distracted by the discord around the Oath Against Modernism. He was since 1868 a member of the Catholic Student Association AV Guestfalia Tübingen.

Writings

* ''Handbuch des Kirchenrechtes.'' 2 volumes. Moser, Graz 1886/1898
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Literature

* * Josef Kremsmair: ''Rudolf Ritter von Scherer. Ein hervorragender Kanonist und seine Haltung zum Antimodernisteneid.'' In: Franz Pototschnig und Alfred Rinnerthaler (Hrsg.): ''Im Dienst von Kirche und Staat. In memoriam Carl Holböck'' (= ''Kirche und Recht.'' Bd. 17). Wien 1985, p. 327-346. * * Bruno Primetshofer: ''Kirchenrecht. Die Kath.-Theol. Fakultät der Universität Wien. Festschrift zum 600-Jahr-Jubiläum.'' Hrsg. von Ernst C. Suttner. Berlin 1984, p. 213-245.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scherer, Rudolf von 1845 births 1918 deaths Canon law jurists 19th-century Austrian Roman Catholic theologians Austrian legal scholars 19th-century Austrian Roman Catholic priests 20th-century Austrian Roman Catholic priests Academic staff of the University of Vienna Academic staff of the University of Graz Cartellverband members 20th-century Austrian Roman Catholic theologians