Currents of History 3/2018
Ljubodrag DIMIĆ
Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade
ljubodrag_dimic@yahoo.com
Alojzije Stepinac, Student of the Collegium Germanicum (1924–1931)
Abstract: The seven-year stay at the Collegium Germanicum (1924–1931) had a major influence on the ideological and religious maturation of Alojzije Stepinac. Education at this seminary for Roman Catholic priests, administered by the Jesuits, took place in circumstances of intensified clericalization of Croatian society and conflict between the Catholic Church and the Yugoslav state.
Key words: Alojzije Stepinac, Collegium Germanicum, Roman Catholic Church, Jesuits
Summary
The Collegium Germanicum was a papal Jesuit college in Rome for the upbringing and education of priests. At this college Alojzije Stepinac spent seven years (1924–1931) and obtained two doctoral degrees – in theology and philosophy. Stepinac went to Rome filled with the accumulated discontent that bishops and clerics had toward the Yugoslav state – and returned as an enemy of that state. The years of his schooling were marked by the Roman Catholic Church's dissatisfaction with the Yugoslav state, which did not want the church to retain its place in the school system and continue to influence the education of young generations. Relations between the church and the state were also marked by painstaking negotiations over the concordat. Reports about the conflicts between the church and the state reached Stepinac and contributed to his mistrust of the state. The teachings of the popes of Rome and “Jesuit fathers” during his studies at the Collegium Germanicum filled him with loathing for liberalism, Freemasonry, Eastern Orthodoxy, socialism, and communism. He was educated in the spirit of unquestioning submission to Rome and respect for authority. In addition to Stepinac, many other influential representatives of the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia were Germanicum students. All of them shared the collective awareness and “common spirit” of the Collegium Germanicum, an interconnectedness, tradition, and obligation of mutual communication and information sharing (“correspondence”). This was a kind of nucleus of the alliance of the Catholic elite, with strong connections to Rome and ready to carry out every command from the Jesuits without any hesitation.