PACHTLER, GEORG MICHAEL. – Jesuit, pedagogist, b. at Mergentheim (Württemberg) on 14 Sept. 1825, d. at Exaeten (Holland) on 12 Aug. 1889.
Professor at Gorheim and at Feldkirch, chaplain to the Papal Zuavi in Rome (1869–70), then to the lazar-house at Berlin (1870–71), in the latter year he helped found the periodical Stimmen aus Maria Laach, which he directed for a year, continuing thereafter as a free contributor to supply it with a long series of articles. A lively and ready writer, he dealt effectively with the issues of the day: the Vatican Council, the Roman Question, freedom of teaching, Freemasonry and liberalism. Among his works: Die internationale Arbeiterverbindung (Essen 1872); Der stille Krieg gegen Thron u. Altar, oder das Negative der Freimaurerei (Freiburg in Br. 1873); Der Götz der Humanität oder das Positive der Freimaurerei (ibid. 1875); Das göttliche Recht der Familie u. der Kirche auf die Schule (Mainz 1879); Die Reform unserer Gymnasien (Paderborn 1882), which led to his invitation to contribute to the Monumenta Germanicae paedagogica, published at Berlin under the direction of K. Kehrbach. Indeed, he authored vols. II, V, IX, XVI of the series (1887–94; the last, however, published posthumously by Fr B. Duhr); Ratio studiorum et Institutiones scholasticae Societatis Jesu per Germaniam olim vigentes, in which he treats of the internal and external organization of the Order’s colleges, of the various methods of instruction and education. The work, rich in detail, often unpublished, remains fundamental for the history of pedagogy.