PACHTLER, GEORG MICHAEL. - Jesuit, educationist, b. at Mergentheim (Württemberg) on 14 Sept. 1825, d. at Exaeten (Holland) on 12 Aug. 1889.
A professor at Gorheim and at Feldkirch, chaplain of the Pontifical Zouaves in Rome (1869-70), then of the Berlin lazaretto (1870-71), in this last year he cooperated in the founding of the periodical Stimmen aus Maria Laach, which he directed for a year, continuing thereafter always, as a free contributor, to supply it with a good series of articles. A skilled and ready writer, he dealt effectively with the questions of the day: the Vatican Council, the Roman Question, freedom of teaching, Freemasonry and liberalism. Worth citing: Die internationale Arbeiterverbindung (Essen 1872); Der stille Krieg gegen Thron u. Altar, oder das Negative der Freimaurerei (Freiburg im Br. 1873); Der Götze 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 1883), which led to his being invited to collaborate on the Monumenta Germaniae paedagogica, published in Berlin under the direction of K. Kehrbach. His indeed are 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 colleges of the Order, of the various methods of instruction and education. The work, rich in details, often unpublished, remains fundamental for the history of pedagogy.