VORTHEY, GIOVANNI BATTISTA

VORTHEY, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. – Augustinian, born Andrea, born in Brünn on 10 August 1794, died there on 15 May 1876.

He entered the Order in 1811 and was ordained a priest in 1817. He was immediately assigned to pastoral ministry, and in 1821 was appointed chaplain of the Spielberg prison and of the female hospital of S. Elisabetta. For a year—from the spring of 1823 to April 1824—he was charged with providing spiritual assistance to the Italian political prisoners confined in the fortress. Chapter 78 of Mie prigioni is devoted in its entirety to the gentleness, wisdom, tact, and discretion of the worthy Augustinian, who—in order to fulfil his office more effectively—decided to learn the Italian language. He comforted Antonio Oroboni in his final hours and formed a particularly close friendship with Silvio Pellico. It is known from Saluzzese—and the information is confirmed by official Habsburg documents—that he used to spend long periods with the prisoners, treating them with affection, and gave them numerous ascetical books to read. Alarmed by this, the Austrian authorities soon relieved him of this charitable assignment and, unfortunately, PAULICIANI (v.), to the great regret of the Italian detainees. He subsequently served as parish priest at Küce and Vronov, and then at Brünn; prior of his convent; counsellor to the Episcopal Curia; professor; and episcopal commissioner for the teaching of religion in the city’s schools. A member of the local Society of National History and awarded the Austrian Golden Cross with Crown for his cultural and religious merits, V. was, as prior of the Augustinian convent of Brünn, the most valuable collaborator of its abbot, the biologist Fr. Giovanni Gregorio Mendel.

(photograph: Bildarchiv d. Ö. Nationalbibliothek)
VORAU. – Façade of the abbey church, remodeled in 1660. The clock tower is Romanesque, with Gothic additions; the other tower dates from 1527.

Renzo U. Montini