Higher Scientific Institute for Diocesan Priests at St. Augustine's

The Frintaneum was a training college for diocesan priests in Vienna. It opened in 1816 in the Augustinian monastery inside the Hofburg palace. In 1914 it moved to Habsburggasse street. The Habsburg court wanted to educate its own clergy without relying on Rome. Students came from every part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. More than a thousand men studied theology there for three years. Each student wore a distinctive uniform while at the college. The course ended with a doctorate in theology. The institute closed in 1918 after the First World War. The old monastery buildings still stand in the Hofburg. Habsburggasse street still shows the later classrooms. Visitors can see the quiet courtyards where students once walked. The site keeps the memory of a century of priestly training.