GÖRRES-GESELLSCHAFT. - German Catholic society established on the centenary of Görres’s birth (25 Jan. 1876) at Coblenza to promote scientific research in the various fields of human knowledge.
The G. G. zur Pflege der Wissenschaft im katholischen Deutschland comprises eight sections: history; legal and political sciences; social and economic sciences; philosophy; natural sciences; antiquity; art; literature. Worthy of note are its historical publications: the journal Historisches Jahrbuch, Oriens Christianus, the collection of the proceedings of the Tridentinum, and the Quellen zur Geschichte der päpstlichen Hof- und Finanzverwaltung im 14. Jahrhundert; the Staatlexikon (5 vols.). Since 1888 the Historical Institute of the G. G. has existed in Rome, and has greatly facilitated the research of German scholars in the Vatican Archives. The presidents of the G. G. were G. von Hertling, H. von Grauert, and H. Finke. During the National Socialist regime, the G.-G. was dissolved in 1941 and its property confiscated. It was re-established in 1948.