Vienna Conference Marks 250 Years of Greek-Catholic Seminary Barbarium

The 250th anniversary of Vienna’s Greek-Catholic seminary, the “Barbarium,” is the occasion for an international conference in Vienna from 20 to 22 May 2025. According to an announcement from the Eastern Church Ordinariate, the conference brings together rectors of Greek-Catholic seminaries from across Europe and numerous Greek-Catholic bishops to reflect on the role of the Eastern Catholic Churches in proclaiming the Gospel and in promoting unity, peace and stability in Europe. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn is hosting the event in his capacity as Ordinary for the Eastern Catholic Churches in Austria.

Ahead of the conference, Schönborn described the Barbarium as an “oasis” of common formation, prayer and fraternity that brought together young men from different regions, languages and traditions. He said numerous church leaders and bishops came from this shared formation, “each of whom, with the special gift of his own church, helped to create a common foundation for a united Europe.” He called the heritage of this unity in diversity “an important resource for our continent – in spiritual, historical and social terms,” a model of unity across different traditions (Psalm 133:1).

The program opens on Tuesday evening, 20 May, with Vespers in the Greek-Catholic Church of St. Barbara. On Thursday, Schönborn, East Church Vicar General Yuriy Kolasa and Viennese Eastern Church expert Prof. Thomas Nemeth will open the substantive sessions at the Archdiocese’s Palace. The spiritual high point is a Pontifical Liturgy at 18:00 in St. Stephen’s Cathedral on Wednesday, 21 May. Bishops Cyril Vasil (Slovakia), Fülöp Kocsis (Hungary), Milan Stipic (Croatia), Bohdan Danylo (USA) and Virgil Bercea (Romania), among others, have agreed to attend. Archbishop Pedro Lopez Quintana, the Apostolic Nuncio in Austria, will also take part. On Thursday, 22 May, Schönborn and the bishops present will address current issues in a panel discussion on the Greek-Catholic Eastern Churches in Europe.

The Greek-Catholic Church has been present in Vienna since 1775. After Austria occupied Galicia in 1772, the Habsburg Monarchy was confronted with the presence of three million united Catholics of the Byzantine rite. In 1775 Maria Theresia transferred the church and monastery of St. Barbara to the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic community in Vienna’s Postgasse, and this was connected with the founding of the seminary “Barbarium.”

The Barbarium quickly became a centre of theological and intellectual exchange. Its seminarians studied philosophy, theology, liturgical practice and languages, including Latin, Greek and Slavic. The seminary placed strong emphasis on a distinct Greek-Catholic identity while remaining in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Students also attended lectures at Vienna’s universities, and the seminary maintained close relations with Roman Catholic institutions.

The Barbarium’s existence was brief. In 1784 Joseph II dissolved the seminary, and the education of Greek-Catholic clergy was moved from Vienna to the new unified general seminaries in Lviv and Eger. The emperor also established a Greek-Catholic central parish of St. Barbara for the Galicians.

St. Barbara remained under the authority of the Metropolitan of Lemberg until 1935. That year, by decree of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, jurisdiction passed to the Archbishop of Vienna, though he exercised it only as a delegate of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Eastern Churches. As a result, St. Barbara was not admitted into the Vienna Archdiocese’s diocesan association and remained a papal parish.

By decree of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches dated 3 October 1945, the Archbishop of Vienna, then Cardinal Theodor Innitzer, was given independent jurisdiction over the priests and faithful of the Byzantine rite in Austria. In 1946 Innitzer appointed Myron Hornykewytsch (1886-1959) as the first Vicar General for the Catholics of the Byzantine rite in Austria. Cardinal Schönborn now serves as Ordinary not only for the Greek-Catholic communities but for all Eastern Catholics in Austria.

Source: Read the original report (translated from German)