Life and Scientific Contributions

Members of the Augustinian Monastery in Old Brno in the years 1861 to 1864. Standing from left: Benedikt Fogler, Pavel Krizkovsky, Tomas Bratranek, Josef Lindenthal, Gregor J. Mendel, Anselm Rambousek, Antonin Alt, Matous Klacel. Seated from left: Baptist Vorthey, Cyrill Napp, Vaclav Sembera. Courtesy of Villanova University Archives.

 

The Monastery Garden with the greenhouse which Gregor J. Mendel, O.S.A., had built in 1870. Its appearance before 1902. Courtesy of Villanova University Archives.

 

 

Gregor J. Mendel, O.S.A., experimental garden (35x7 meters) in the grounds of the Augustinian Monastery in Old Brno. Its appearance before 1922. Courtesy of Villanova University Archives.

 

 

 

 

Mendel, Gregor Johann. Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden. Vorgelegt in den Sitzungen vom 8. Februar und 8. März 1865. Verhandlungen des naturforschenden Vereines in Brünn, Band IV, Heft 1 (1865): 3-47. Brünn: Verlag des Vereines, 1866. Gregor Mendel's experiments with hybridization of pea plants were conducted in the garden at the Augustinian Monastery in Brünn. He reported on these experiments in two lectures which were read before the Natural Sciences Society of Brünn on February 8th and March 8th, 1865. The manuscript was published in the Society's Proceeding in 1866. An English translation, "Experiments in Plant Hybridisation", was first published in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, London, 26, 1901, p.1-32.
Presented to Villanova University by the Augustinians of the Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova on January 23, 1999. The volume is now in Falvey Memorial Library's Augustiniana Collection.

 

Mendel's Abbatial Coat of Arms consists of the prelate's hat, miter, crozier, and pectoral cross. The shield is divided into four quadrants:

The Cross and the Plow at the top right represent Mendel's priestly vocation of planting the seeds of the Gospel.
The Alpha and the Omega at the bottom right represent Christ as the One in whom creation began and in whom it finds fulfillment.
The Lily at the top left is the emblem of the Blessed Virgin and represents purity.
The flaming Heart and joined Hands at the bottom left are symbols of charity and community of the Augustinian Order to which Mendel belonged.

 

Mendel, Gregor. Über einige aus kunstlicher Befruchtung gewonnenen Hieracium-Bastarde. Mitgeteilt in der Sitzung vom 9. Juni 1869. Verhandlungen des naturforschenden Vereines in Brünn, Band VIII, Heft 1 (1869): 26-31. Brünn: Burkart, 1870. Gregor Mendel's paper on the results of his experiments with hawkweed hybrids was read to the members of the Natural Sciences Society in Brünn on June 9th 1869 and published in the Society's 1869 Proceedings. An English translation, "On Hieracium-Hybrids obtained by artificial fertilisation", was first published in William Bateson's "Mendel's Principles of Heredity", Cambridge, 1902.

 

Augustiniana Collection

 

Folia Mendeliana. Vol.1- .Brno: Moravian Museum, 1966- . Series publishing papers relating to Mendel and to the early development of genetics. (Augustiniana Collection)