Ján Kvačala

also Ján Radomil Kvačala

pseudonym Ivan Chranovský

(1862 – 1934)

Slovak theologian, comeniologist and historian.

Kvačala received his basic learning at the primary school in Petrovec, graduated from the gymnasium at Sarvaš, and the studied theology, philosophy and philology in Bratislava and Leipzig. He completed his studies with a dissertation on Comenius, to whose person he devoted careful and thorough attention throughout his life. He served as a teacher at the Bratislava Lyceum and as a professor in the Department of Ecclesiastical History at the Evangelical Theological Faculty at Yuryev (German/Swedish Dorpat, now Tartu, Estonia). He is the founder of concentrated and systematic studies of the life and person of Comenius. Kvačala tenaciously sought material relating to Comenius in archives and libraries across Europe, discovering several works of which he was a sedulous editor. He is the author of monographs and smaller studies on Comenius and those who were close to, or part of, his circle (Andreae, Alsted, Bisterfeld, Jablonski etc.). Kvačala was the founder of and a regular contributor to the first comeniological journal, the Archiv pro badání o životě a spisech J. A. Komenského (1910-1940, vols. 1–15). From 1910 he was the chief editor of Veškeré spisy J. A. Komenského. He collaborated with comeniologists from across Europe, and from Germany in particular (the Comenius-Gesellschaft in Leipzig and Berlin). His explication of Comenius’ works and personality rested on a knowledge primarily of the pedagogical works. Comenius’ fundamental Consultatio was discovered only after Ján Kvačala’s death.

Basic works:

Über J. A. Comenius’ Philosophie, insbesondere dessen Physik, Leipzig 1886

Die pädagogische Reform des Comenius in Deutschland bis zum Anfäge des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 2. volumes, Berlin, 1903 & 1904.

Johann Amos Comenius, sein Leben und seine Werke. Vienna&Leipzig, 1892, dissertation work 

Editions of Comenius’ correspondence:

Korrespondence J. A. Komenského I. Listy Komenského a vrstevníků jeho. Prague 1898

Korrespondence J. A. Komenského II. Listy Komenského a vrstevníků jeho. Zprávy o životě jeho ze současných pramenů. Menší latinské spisky některé. Prague 1902

Analecta Comeniana. In: Archiv. 1, 1910, pp10-27.