HURTER, HUGO VON

Jesuit theologian and historian; b. Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Jan. 11, 1832; d. Innsbruck, Austria, Dec. 10, 1914. With training in historical method from his father, he became a Catholic in 1844 in Rome. He was ordained in 1855, received doctorates in philosophy and theology at the German college in Rome in 1856, and became a Jesuit in 1857. From 1858 to 1912 he taught dogmatic theology at the University of Innsbruck. His reputation rests on his works Theologiae dogmaticae compendium (3 v., 1876–78, 12th ed. 1909), an abridgment of the Medulla theologiae dogmaticae (1870, 8th ed. 1908), and especially Nomenclator literarius theologiae catholicae (3 v., 1871–86), an annotated catalogue of Catholic theologians from the Council of Trent to his day. The second edition of the Nomenclator (1891–92) includes the period 1109 to 1563, and the third edition (1903–13) begins with the Patristic period, and is indispensable for the study of the history of Catholic theology.

Hugo's father Frederick, b. Schaffhausen, March 19, 1787; d. Graz, Austria, Aug. 27, 1865; was a Protestant minister from 1808 to 1841. Through his sympathy with Catholicism, because of his attitude toward authority in an age of revolution, and perhaps through the influence of the ethos of Romanticism, he and his family were converted to the Church in 1844. He favored Metternich. In 1846 he was made a noble and historian of the court of Vienna. He wrote historical studies of Innocent III (4 v., 1834–42), Emperor Ferdinand II (11 v., 1850–64), and Wallenstein (1855, 1862), and several volumes of an autobiographical nature. A son, Henry, wrote his biography (2 v., Graz 1876–77).

Bibliography: j. m. hillenkamp, P. Hurter, S.J. (Innsbruck 1917). p. bernard, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al., 15 v. (Paris 1903–50) 7.1:332–333. f. lakner, "Die Dogmatische Theologie an der Universität Innsbruck," Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie (Vienna 1877—) 80 (1958) 104, 111–113.

[f. x. murphy]