Why did Joseph II establish national training colleges for Catholic priests?

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Portrait painting of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, wearing a black and red military coat with medals and a sash, with St. Peter's Basilica visible in the background. — Joseph II Joseph II, Holy Roman emperor, detail of a painting by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, 1769; in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Joseph II established national training colleges for Catholic priests as part of his broader effort to subject the Roman Catholic Church in the Habsburg lands to state service, a policy often referred to as Josephinism.31

By secularizing the seminaries and creating these state-controlled training institutions, Joseph II aimed to tighten his control over church discipline and ecclesiastical matters. This move was consistent with his belief that the state should exercise firm authority over the church outside of strictly religious spheres. These reforms were part of a wider agenda to reorganize the monarchy, which included limiting the authority of bishops and restricting their communication with the Pope.123