PRIVILEGE “NOBILITATIS NATALIUM” PROBLEM: THE EXCLUSION OF NON-NOBLEMEN FROM HIGH POSITIONS IN THE CHURCH AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
PRIVILEGE “NOBILITATIS NATALIUM” PROBLEM: THE EXCLUSION OF NON-NOBLEMEN FROM HIGH POSITIONS IN THE CHURCH AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: The problem of exclusion of non-aristocrats from high positions in the church at the turn of the 20th century is represented by the example of the “canonry question of Olomouc”. The Olomouc canonry had the right to elect freely their bishop, usually from among the canons. As of 1772 only aristocrats had been able to become canons (due to the nobilitatis natalium privilege). During the episcopate of Archbishop Fürstenberg, the cancellation of this privilege was discussed. The Viennese government did not agree with the complete withdrawal, however, and therefore the result was only a provisional solution. The Emperor could appoint non-noblemen to the position of canon, but the canonry could still elect only aristocrats to this position. Fürstenberg’s successor Theodor Kohn did not have an aristocratic origin. Archbishop Kohn also strived to resolve this problem definitively, but also failed. The nobilitatis natalium privilege was only annulled after 1918, together with the abrogation of aristocratic titles in the Czechoslovak Republic. The nobilitatis natalium requirement was not conditioned theologically, but historically. The regard for an ancestral origin in connection with attaining offices in the Church did not have any justification any longer and this led to its cancellation.

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