The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-09-30
CATHOLIC PRESS OF AUSTRIA
THE PIUSvERElN HAS MADE THE
AUSTRIAN CATHOLIC PRESS
MORE VIGOROUS.
Organized in 1906-Has Large Mem.
bership-Provides Material Assist
ance for Catholic Publications.

i At the Catholic Congress held at
i Newcastle-on-Tyne at the beginning
Of August, Rev. Albert Boegle, S. T.,
read an interesting paper on the Aus
! trian Piusverein. He said in part:
THAT great Pope, Piux v, by his
zeal and his prayer, saved Austria
from the scourge of Turkish domina-
ton. A great Catholic society bearing
his name, the Piusverein, is now saw
ing Austria from a domination no less
pernicious-the domination of an anti
/ Christian Press. OF this society I have
come to give you some account. My
words may encourage you in your
own apostolate of the press. During
the second half of the nineteenth Gen.
] fury Austria was delivered up to the
anti-religious, freethinking press. The
enemies of the Church controlled hun
dreds of newspapers. In Vienna alone
their circulation ran to hundreds of
thousands. The combined circulation
of the two chief Catholic papers did
not reach ten thousand.
i 1t was at Catholic congress in the
year 1905 that the Apostolate of the
Press took shape. Six thousand Cath
olics from all parts of Austria met
in the largest hall in Vienna under
the presidency of the Governor of
Vorarlberg. The chief speaker was
Father Kolb, S. j., to whose initiative
the meeting was due. He proposed
the formation of a great organization
to support all Catholic newspapers,
whatever their political views might
be. The proposal was at once receiv-
ed with enthusiasm. Bishops, priests
and laymen gave their unanimous ap-
proval. The various editors expressed
their entire agreement. Several hun
dreds of pounds were collected on the
spot.
The Piusverein Was Launched.
The present Holy Father wrote
letter to the Cardinal Archbishop of
Vienna expressing his entire satisfac-
tion at the new crusade and exhort-
ing the Catholics of Austria to support
it strongly.
What is the Piusverein? 1t is non
political association with a three-fold
aim:
l. To fight the anti-Catholic press.
2. To support the Catholic press 8.
To encourage the development of
Catholic newspapers by providing
them with material assistance.
The first two of these aims were
to be secured by means of confer
ences, meetings, and well-organized
and ceaseless propaganda. The third
by means of monthly collections and
the establishment of press bureau.
The Piusverein is composed of as
sociates who contribute sevenpence
month, members who contribute rath-
er less than form year, and pro-
motors, who give eight shillings a.
year. Besides these there are bene-
factors, founders and donors, who
make single contribution of sixteen,
eighty and a hundred and sixty pounds
respectively. I need not remark that
even larger contributions are accepted
without any difficulty, In many ways
the Piusverein increases the number
of subscribers to Catholic newspapers.
In the first place it sends up the sale
by assisting the papers to develop,
and furnishing them with reliable
news. Secondly, by frequent recon-
mendations from the pulpit. Thirdly,
by collecting contributions for the
J Piusverein. Those who have given
such contributions are more likely to
subscribe to one of the papers which
the Piusverein is helping to support.
People like to see whether their money
is being well spent and whether the
papers are improving. For this rea-
son even the poor are encouraged to
join the Piusverein, since, besides as
sisting the Catholic pres@ it increases
popular interest in Catholic papers.
To this end also a certain number OF
Catholic papers are distributed gratis
at every meeting and recommended to
those present. In small parishes of
the Tyrol have seen twenty, thirty,
fifty subscribers to Catholic papers en-
rolled at an annual meeting of the To-
cal Piusverein.
The Piusverein came into being in
March, 1906. BY the end of the same
year it had nearly forty-five thousand
members. In 1910 the number rose
to over one hundred and twenty-five
thousand. It is hardly necessary to
say that these results were only OBJ
tanned by hard work. During the
first nine months more than two hun
dred meetings we're held. During one
month in 1907 eighty meetings for
propaganda purposes were held and
thirty seven new local groups founded
During the last three months of 1909
half a dozen religious organized more
than one hundred and fifty meetings
in the Tyrol alone; in the same time
we founded about thirty new local as
sociations.