GALURA, BERNHARD. - Bishop, theologian and educationalist, b. at Herbolzheim (Baden) on 21 Aug. 1764, d. at Bressanone on 17 May 1856. He studied at the general seminaries of Fribourg in Br. and of Vienna. A priest in 1788, he was subsequently prefect of studies at the Seminary of Fribourg, parish priest of the Cathedral, and school inspector for the Breisgau. After the Napoleonic storm had passed, the emperor Francis I called him as a government councillor to Innsbruck (1815); then, in 1819, he made him vicar general for the Vorarlberg and afterwards auxiliary bishop of Bressanone. From 1829 prince-bishop of Bressanone. He brought the Jesuits back to Innsbruck, and at Bressanone he revived theological studies, calling excellent professors to the Seminary, among them V. Gasser, F. J. Rodgier and J. Fessler.
Himself a prolific writer, he touched on almost every branch of theology. He exercised his most original and most lasting influence in the catechetical field, through his activity (the impulse he gave to Sunday "doctrine", the Mass of schoolchildren and of children) and through his writings. His main idea is the application of the Socratic inductive method to the teaching of the catechism: in this he makes use of the best data of the Enlightenment, yet without falling into rationalistic tendencies. Principal writings: Grundsätze der sohratischen Katechistermethode (Fribourg in Br. 1793); Die ganze christbatholische Religion in Gesprächen (5 vols., ibid. 1796-99); Die neueste Theologie des Christentums (6 vols., ibid. 1800-1804); Lehrbuch der christlichen Wohlgezogenheit (Augsburg 1822).
Bibliography4 works
Igino Rogger