* 03.11.1861 Dippach (Luxemburg), † 04.02.1941 Rom
Born in Dippach (Luxembourg) in 1861, the archaeologist and medievalist Johann Peter Kirsch shaped the first 5 decades of the Roman Institute of the Görres Society in two terms of office together with his colleague and friend Stefan Ehses.
* 16.01.1857 Wemding, † 06.05.1925 Freising
The art-loving Eichstätt priest Joseph Schlecht stayed at the Campo Santo Teutonico from 1889 to 1891 as chaplain and Görres fellow. In the second year, he acted as director of the RIGG, as Johann Peter Kirsch had left for Fribourg as professor of church history.
Franz Miltenberger, born on 14 November 1867 in Buchbrunn and died on 30 May 1959, was chaplain at the Juliansstift in Würzburg after his ordination. From 1891 to 1893 he came to Campo Santo Teutonico as chaplain and Görres scholarship holder. From 1893 to 1894 he continued as chaplain at the college, but at the same time took over, without formal appointment, as director of the RIGG after Stephan Ehses had to return to his home in Trier.
* 09.12.1855 Zeltingen an der Mosel, † 19.01.1926 Rom
The historian Stefan Ehses, born in Zeltingen on the Moselle in 1855, succeeded the founding director Kirsch as director of the RIGG for three decades in 1895. However, he had to leave Rome during the First World War and was only able to return to the Institute's headquarters in 1925.
* 09.05.1888 Bayreuth, † 12.03.1972 Rom
Hermann Maria Stoeckle, born in Bayreuth in 1888, had been Rector of the Campo Santo Teutonico since 1931 and on 2 November 1937 also took over the management of the RIGG as acting Director, while Johann Peter Kirsch was still Director off duty until 1941. Under Stoeckle, the Institute was able to survive the war and the post-war period. He resigned from the directorship on 4 October 1949.
* 06.01.1902 Köln, † 28.03.1970 Rom
The Jesuit Engelbert Kirschbaum, born in Cologne in 1902, worked as an art historian and archaeologist in Rome and on Roman themes from 1932. His work contributed significantly to the reconstruction of the RIGG after the Second World War. He resigned from his post as director of the Görres Institute at the end of 1959 in order to devote himself entirely to the encyclopaedia of Christian iconography which he had conceived and edited.
* 10.06.1899 Dürnbach bei Passau, † 25.10.1985 Rom
The military priest Ludwig Voelkel was displaced to Rome during the Second World War and began his studies there at the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archaeology after the war. As a historian and architectural researcher of the Constantinian period, he made valuable contributions to the consolidation of the Institute in the post-war period.
* 19.11.1932 Düsseldorf, † 12.04.2010 Berlin
Born in Düsseldorf in 1932, Dominican Ambrosius Eszer worked as a professor of Partristics and Eastern Church History at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas ("Angelicum") since the 1970s. From 1983 he worked for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints of the Roman Curia and from 1990 until the end of 2008 was its General Relator.
* 04.05.1933 Aachen, † 08.05.2011 Maastricht
Erwin Gatz (born 1933 in Aachen, died 2011 Maastricht) contributed to the Institute's high academic reputation through his major publishing projects (Bishop's Encyclopaedia, Diocesan Encyclopaedia, History of Church Life in Germany, Church History Atlas) and was able to support numerous young scholars during their Roman study visits.
Römisches Institut der Görres-Gesellschaft
