Contribution of Bishops of České Budějovice to Care of the Ill in their Town of Residence in 1785-1883

The study deals with the concern of the first four bishops of České Budějovice – Jan Prokop Schaaffgotsche, Arnošt Konstantin Růžička, Josef Ondřej Lindauer and Jan Valerián Jirsík – for the ill in 1785-1883, with emphasis on their activities in České Budějovice. The study shows how concern for the ill was linked to works of charity, which were closely connected with spiritual care in the last decades of the eighteenth century. It then captures the process of gradual separation of charity and health institutions in the course of the nineteenth century, whereby an outward sign of this process was an increase in the number of hospitals. This was due to state edicts striving to increase the quality of life, health care as well as supervision over physicians’ qualifications, but also to more intensive financial support on the part of local governments, and of course also to the all-round support of the Catholic Church represented

In this short study we will illustrate this issue on the activities of the first four bishops of České Budějovice Jan Prokop Schaaffgotsche, Arnošt Konstantin Růžička, Josef Ondřej Lindauer and Jan Valerián Jirsík, especially in the context of their concern for the ill in their town of residence.

Jan Prokop Schaaffgotsche and Arnošt Konstantin Růžička
For the first bishop of České Budějovice Jan Prokop Schaaffgotsche (1785-1813) 4 care of the ill became one of the important activities of his episcopate. He knew very well that the situation in the newly founded diocese (1785) and in his town of residence was not very good in this respect. Official documents show that at the time of his installation in office at least some sort of health care there: Since early 14 th century there had been a hospital with the church of St. Wenceslas, abolished in 1786, 10 and there was the municipal poorhouse (Armeninstitut) in what is now Krajinská avenue, founded in 1781, administrated for a short time by sisters of the order of St. Francis. In 1787 care in the poorhouse was extended to hospital nursing and in 1793 it was merged with the municipal hospital. But the capacity of the building was small and the situation of hospital care certainly was not good for a town of five thousand inhabitants. 11 Schaaffgotsche was unable to solve the situation with hospital care in his own town of residence, despite the fact that he closely cooperated with representatives of the town headed by the mayor Franz Daudlebský von Sterneck, of whom it was known that besides schooling he devoted much attention precisely to care of the poor and the ill. 12 Despite all effort they did not succeed to accumulate sufficient means for the common project of building a new hospital.
Until the end of Schaaffgotsche's episcopate it held that the town took care of the material aspect of the functioning of the existing "hospital" and the Church provided spiritual administration, in which the bishop was personally involved by regular visits and providing sacraments to the ill, as testified by records in so-called Book of Episcopal Works. 13 But he never forgot the need for the new hospital, which is documented by his testament of 1813, in which he left a significant part of his legacy for its construction, the sum of 3815 florins. 14 For completeness's sake we must add that precisely his concern for the ill and the dying became part of his spiritual legacy for the subsequent generations. 15 Schaaffgotsche's successor Arnošt Konstantin Růžička (1813-1845), who had stood by his side as vicar general for almost two decades, continued in his legacy. 16 He also faced the fact 10  of an insufficient number of health care institutions in the diocese. 17 Just as his predecessor had done, he admonished the faithful to perform deeds of Christian love among others by serving the ill. 18 In cooperation with representatives of the town of České Budějovice it was eventually possible to build a new hospital, for which bishop Schaaffgotsche had strived so much. The money from his legacy was used to buy a piece of land in 1826. Master builder Josef Bednařík was commissioned to work out the plans. 19 Bishop Růžička personally attended the laying of the foundation stone on May 21 st , 1827. The two-storeyed building, situated on the inner edge of the then Viennese suburb in the mouth of what is now Karel IV. street to Mlýnská stoka, was finally approved on October 4 th , 1829 and then ceremonially opened on December 24 th of the same year with the bishop attending. The total construction cost was 18 918 florins. Růžička himself made a contribution, presenting a thousand florins. The rest was paid for by the town. The building went under the title Bürgerliches Armen -Kranken und Arbeitshaus and served simultaneously as a poorhouse. Its operation was directed by representatives of the town, physicians and the Church, the spiritual administrator of the hospital was the town dean. 20 Růžička himself took further care of the running of the hospital and designated money to support it in his testament. 21 This institution became something the town could be proud of in a good sense of the word: when Emperor Ferdinand V visited České Budějovice on September 5 th , 1834, he was among others taken to the new hospital. 22

Josef Ondřej Lindauer and Jan Valerián Jirsík
Růžička's successor Josef Ondřej Lindauer (1846-1850) only served as bishop for a short time, but nonetheless left a fairly essential legacy in this respect. 23 He was a man who did not like to take unpremeditated steps in the sphere of helping the needy, due to which the limited means would be uselessly wasted.
As bishop he tried to proceed systematically in the diocese. He used the system of diocesan church administration and ordered the superiors of the thirty vicariates to send not only reports of the state of schooling and support of poor pupils, but also information on the number and support of the deaf-mute and the blind and on hospitals each September. 24 His concern for setting up new hospitals was well known -in particular he was able to support the hospitals in Strakonice and in Písek, with his authority or even financially. 25 Unprecedented was his support of the hospital in České Budějovice, to which he presented of the town had a monument built at the Old town cemetery of České Budějovice with a thanksgiving for precisely this great gift. 30 At the time of the episcopate of Jan Valerián Jirsík (1851-1883) 31 basic institutionalization of health care in the diocese and in his town of residence had already been secured and further specialization of health-social assistance followed. An example may be especially the fact that the Borromeo sisters ran the hospital until June 30 th , 1856, then it was handed over to municipal administration, but the nuns continued to take part in its operation. Of course, the Church still provided spiritual care of the ill. In Jirsík's time, in 1864 and 1873, the building was enlarged and number of beds increased. 32 Private physician's offices and nursing homes also began to spring up in town. The number of specialists among the private physicians rose. Public care was provided by two physicians, in 1870 the office of regional physician was set up, who supervised health care at regional level. Since 1883 health care paid for by the municipality was directed by the town physician with the assistance of two town surgeons. 33 Although it might seem that in this situation the Church could contribute only by spiritual care of the ill, the bishop thought otherwise. He saw a great gap in the health-social system, which was care of a group of persons with a very specific handicap -the deaf-mute. According to contemporary official reports there were more than 4 thousand deaf-mute persons in Bohemia, of that more than a thousand in his diocese. He was convinced that these persons must be taken care of and especially the children provided with schooling. He therefore sent a capable priest to train for work with these children in Prague. In 1870 he succeeded to obtain the building of the former teachers' institute in the present Riegrova street for teaching deaf-mute children, which he ceremonially opened on november 6 th , 1871. The institute for the deaf-mute in České Budějovice was the fifth establishment of this kind in the Czech lands. teaching was provided by the School Sisters de notre Dame from Horažďovice. Care for deaf-mute children was the bishop's pet project until his death, as manifested by personal care and frequent visits. As an altogether practical man Jirsík also took care of the institute's financing. He founded the Society for Maintaining the Institute of the Deaf-Mute (1871-1956). The Institute's operation was also supported by private donors and various trusts. The Institute itself gradually grew and was reorganized several timeswhile in 1871 it began with 14 children and 3 teachers, already in 1873 50 children were