ABSTRACT
Illich, the social critic, was born in Vienna. His family was forced to leave Austria in 1941 because of his mother’s Jewish ancestry. From 1943–46 he studied for the priesthood in Rome. His doctorate from Salzburg, in 1951, specialised in the nature of historical knowledge. Illich became a priest in a mixed Irish-Puerto Rican district of New York from 1953–56, where he learned Spanish and became an advocate for Puerto Rican culture. He was Rector of the Catholic University of Ponce in Puerto Rico from 1956– 60, but was forced to leave because of his opposition to the bishop’s decree against birth control. He then moved on to establish the Centre for Inter-Cultural Formation, sending Catholic missionaries to Latin America. After a series of disputes with the Church, he left the priesthood in 1969.
