Trauthson

Trauthson the name of an ancient Tyrolese family which furnished two representatives to the episcopal office in the Church of Rome. The former of these was twenty-first bishop of Vienna, and died in 1702. The latter, JOHANN JOSEPH, Count Trauthson and Falckenstein, was born in 1704 at Vienna, in which city he studied (and possibly at Rome and Sienna), became canon and provost, and in 1751 was made prince-archbishop of Vienna. He issued a pastoral letter in which he urged his clergy to prefer the presentation of necessary truths to that of merely useful truths in their sermons, and remonstrated against the excessive zeal expended in the preaching of the merits of saints, while but little attention was given to the preaching of the merits of Christ. He also condemned the introduction of odd or laughable elements into the preaching. This circular occasioned great excitement, and called forth a number of apologetical and; polemical tracts, which are enumerated in Acta Hist. Eccl. 18:1008 sq.; Heinsius, Kirchenhist. 4:329 sq.; and Henke, Kirchengesch 5, 292 sq. Many Protestants suspected that the archbishop had understated the tenets of his Church in order to win over uninformed Protestants, and many Romanists charged him with having begun the betrayal of the Church. Both, however, were mistaken. Trauthson was influenced by the "enlightenment" of his time, butt was none the less a zealous supporter of the Church of Rome. His letter was, however, productive of no special results. Maria Theresa appointed him chief director of studies in the University of Vienna and director of the Theresianum, and pope Benedict XIV made him cardinal in 1756. He persuaded the curia to reduce the number of festivals in his diocese. He died March 10, 1757. His pastoral letter has been translated into many languages. See Von Einem, Vers. einer vollsf. Kirchengesch. d. 18. Jahrh. (Leips. 1782 sq.), 1, 554,590; Schröckh, Kirchengesch. 7:309-313; Leben d. Cardinale d. 18. Jahrh. 3, 260. — Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s.v.