Adolf Rodewyk

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Adolf Rodewyk (born December 4, 1894 in Mülheim , today Cologne , † November 9, 1989 in Münster ) was a German Jesuit priest and exorcist .

Life

Rodewyk attended grammar school in Duisburg and left it with the Abitur. After the First World War, in which he participated from 1914 to 1918, he joined the Society of Jesus in ’s-Heerenberg, the Netherlands . After studying theology in Bonn , Innsbruck and Valkenburg , he was ordained a priest in Valkenburg in 1925 . In the following years he was Superior in Koblenz, Rector of the Aloisius College in Bad Godesberg and Superior in Bonn.

During the Second World War Rodewyk worked as a hospital chaplain and was also the novice master and rector of the Brothers of Mercy in Trier . Afterwards he was pastor in Essen and religion teacher in Büren . In 1954 he became the rector of the residence of the Sankt Ansgar School in Hamburg . In 1960 he became superior in Frankfurt am Main .

He then performed pastoral services and worked as a lecturer for Hebrew and Latin at the Philosophical-Theological University of Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt. In 1987, at the age of 93, he moved to the old people's home of the Jesuit Order in Münster , where he died in 1989.

Act as an exorcist

During the Second World War, Rodewyk met a nurse in the on-site hospital in Trier who he assumed was devoted to the devil. He had the Trier bishop Franz Rudolf Bornewasser commissioned to free the young woman from demonic possession, which took many years. Rodewyk described his experience as the "Magda case". He chose this code name based on the biblical figure of Mary Magdalene , who had been freed from “seven demons” (cf. Lk 8.2  EU ; Mk 16.9  EU ) through Jesus .

Rodewyk wrote standard works on demonology about the fallen angels and their work in the world.

When he was consulted as a reviewer in the case of Anneliese Michel , after her death he came under the crossfire of criticism, as did his parents and the priests entrusted with the exorcism. At the end of the first week of negotiations, he said at the trial, to which he had been summoned as a witness, that it was impossible for anyone to die of exorcism and that he was absolutely convinced of Anneliese Michel's obsession. His superiors later forbade him to justify himself and the others.

Works

  • Demonic possession from the perspective of the Roman Ritual , Aschaffenburg 1963
  • Demonic possession today , Aschaffenburg 1966
  • The devil taken seriously , Stein am Rhein 2001

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rodewyk, Adolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Jesuit priest and exorcist
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Mülheim , today Cologne
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 1989
Place of death Muenster