RAUSCHER, JOSEPH OTHMAR. — Cardinal, born on 6 October 1797 in Vienna, died there on 24 November 1875. After obtaining his law degree, he was ordained a priest in 1823 and in 1825 became professor of Church history and ecclesiastical law at Salzburg. He was a disciple of s. Clemente Hofbauer.
During those years he began a history of the Church, of which, however, only two volumes were published, reaching as far as the age of Constantine. R.’s activity as a writer and scholar was interrupted by other duties. In fact, in 1833 he was appointed director of the Oriental Academy of Vienna and also became tutor to the future Emperor Francesco Giuseppe. When, in 1855, acting in accordance with a testamentary provision of Emperor Francesco, Metternich began negotiations for the conclusion of a Concordat, R. stood at his side, but the attempt foundered on the resistance of the Josephinist bureaucracy. On 15 April 1849 R. was consecrated bishop of Seckau. A few days later, from 30 April to 17 June, he took part, together with all the other bishops of Austria, in a meeting in Vienna to deliberate on the new juridical status secured to the Catholic Church by the Constitution of 4 March 1849. R.’s influence on the proceedings was considerable; he himself declared that it was necessary to deal directly with the governmental authorities regarding disputes within the competence of the episcopate, while reserving other questions for a Concordat. R. was then called to join the committee, composed of five bishops, charged with negotiating the matter with the government. In December 1851 the Emperor appointed him his plenipotentiary for a Concordat with the
Holy See. After lengthy negotiations, which R. conducted in Vienna and Rome with Cardinal Santucci, the Concordat was signed on 18 August 1855. In the meantime, on 27 June 1853, R. had been appointed archbishop of Vienna, and in recognition of his merits he was created a cardinal by Pius IX in the Consistory of 17 December 1855. Within a few years, however, and especially from 1866 onward, R. found himself compelled to defend the Concordat against the increasingly violent attacks of the liberals, who had entered the government and held a majority in the Chamber of Representatives. Little by little, the Concordat’s provisions lost their force as a result of special laws enacted by the State concerning marriage and education. Finally, after the definition of papal infallibility, to which R. himself had shown opposition, the Concordat was declared lapsed by the Austrian government in July 1870.