Fb. Gurk Ordinariate
Klagenfurt, on [] September 1949.
Subject: Reading banned books.
To Mr. [redacted]
in Gallizien / Carinthia.
By virtue of the authorization received from the Holy Apostolic See and in consideration of the reasons brought forward, your well-born is hereby granted permission to read and retain communist books, newspapers and periodicals.
You will want to take special care to ensure that these books do not get into the hands of the unauthorized.
To avoid being damaged by reading these books, you will want to pray and use the relevant Catholic literature so that the uncertainties may be clarified and falsehoods may be disproven.
The above authorization is granted for three years and expires on [] September 1952.
The Prince-Bishop:
[Signature]
"Your honor" is too modern and legere for old Austria, "well-born" is more literal and fits more with formalitly obsessed ex-K.u.K.. Generally a text much funnier in the original. Reads like it is a hundred years older than it is.
Thanks, I really wasn't sure about that one. "Wohlgeboren" sounded quite alien to my non-Austrian ears. It does imply some sort of lower-rank tie to the aristocracy, right? Or could you become "Wohlgeboren" after birth?
Editing the your honor now
in Austria you used to have different honorifics for different titles, I learned the remnants that are still used in school. I would guess that this is the title for, for example, a pastor, but it can also be used for lower nobility. 1949 austria fid not have any noble titles anymore, though. They were forbidden after 1918.
Haha that's both cooler and more contrived than I thought at the same time
Thanks for enlightening me
Yeah it does sound like the one receiving this authorization might have been a priest.
Note how it's signed by the "Fürstbischof" as well, which is anachronistic since he couldnt be called a Fürst (count/lord) anymore at that point.