The Professional Qualifications of a Benedictine Priest-Teacher and the Education of Women in the Order

Abstract

In this study, I examine the denominational teacher qualification, pedagogical career, and activities in the field of women’s education of Benedictine monk Jób Bánhegyi (1897–1979). According to his student, András Görömbei (1991), “Uncle Jób” deserves attention from posterity not because he taught Archduke Otto von Habsburg literature and performed as a committee member at his graduation exam, but because he was an outstanding teacher at the Pannonhalma College and the Benedictine grammar school in Győr.

The unpublished typewritten memoir entitled Életem és sorsom [My Life and Destiny] (Bánhegyi, 1967) sheds light on the theoretical and historical background of Hungarian education and the changing image of women in the first half of the 20th century from the perspective of someone who was involved in the process. Ego documents also inform posterity about matters that are not mentioned by other sources, namely the subjective fact of historical agency (Gyáni, 2019).

Deductive qualitative document analysis is applied in the examination, taking into account the limitations and the quasi-reality-creating role of textual construction, which is one of the distinctive features of memoirs (Babbie, 2001; Gyáni, 2019). Meanwhile, documents considered to be of particular importance for research into the history of women’s education are being uncovered in church archives (Kéri, 2018). István Cs. Varga (2002) notes that Bánhegyi was neglected and underestimated after 1945; therefore, my goal is to fill this gap.

The research is part of an effort to publish an even more comprehensive history of the school on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Benedictine grammar school in Győr, founded in 1626 (Tóth, 2022).