Two Enlightenment Dominicans among the Freemasons in Eighteenth-Century Vienna

Two Austrian Dominicans, Albert Tschick and Franz Poschinger, belonged to Freemasonry in the 1780s. Although their shared interest in the Enlightenment led them to join, they took different paths as members of the association. The article outlines the brief biographies of the two Friars Preachers, sketches their development as Enlightenment preachers, and presents the Masonic period of their lives in the context of the history of Austrian Freemasonry. It contributes to a more nuanced view of the relationship of the Catholic clergy and the Friars Preachers to Freemasonry in the eighteenth century. Keywords: Freemasonry, Catholic Enlightenment, Dominican Order, Austria

Introduction The German Dominican friar Ludovicus Greinemann is quite well known in historical research because of his anti-Masonic sermons in Aachen in March, 1779, which contributed to a temporary closure [...]