Robert J. Austgen Papers

Fonds

Identifier: RJA

Staff Only

Scope and Content

Research papers of Father Robert Austgen, C.S.C; consisting of material collected in support of his book-length manuscripts, Decoding Notre Dame, The Lady on the Dome: A Horoscope of Jesus, and Spirits of Notre Dame: Campus Ghost Stories; including articles, internet documents, maps, mathematical figures and diagrams, notes, photographs, and related geometric studies used by Austgen while composing these works. Also drafts of chapters for these projects, as well as transcripts and transparencies from lectures given on the subjects; with documents (newspaper articles, local records, and biographical accounts of important figures) concerning Notre Dame's history, planning, and architecture from its founding to the present, and the early histories of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, its brothers, and the region of St. Joseph County in northern Indiana.

Dates

Creation: 1999-2007.

Language of Materials

English.

Background

Fr. Robert Joseph Austgen, C.S.C., was born September 19, 1932, in Hammond, Indiana. He attended the University of Notre Dame from 1950 to 1955 and entered Moreau Seminary in 1952 before his sophomore year. He graduated from Notre Dame in 1955 with a degree in philosophy and went on to study theology at Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained in November 1958 in Rome and received his doctorate in Sacred Theology from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland in 1963. He taught at the University of Portland for a year before returning to the University of Notre Dame in 1964 as a faculty member in Department of Theology. A specialist in New Testament ethics, Fr. Austgen published a book on Natural Motivation in the Pauline Epistles. In 1970 he was named Director of the University's Summer Session. He also directed the Office of Advanced Studies and was appointed Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Letters in 1983. During his time at Notre Dame, he served as prefect of Pangborn Hall and Rector of Stanford Hall and Brownson Hall. In recent years he has served as chaplain for the university's health services.