Carl Wilhelm Hilchenbach

Karl (Carl) Wilhelm Hilchenbach (born April 19, 1749 in Frankfurt am Main ; † April 13, 1816 in Vienna ) was a Reformed theologian whose service on December 25, 1784 is regarded as the foundation day of the Reformed Church in Vienna.

Live and act

Carl Wilhelm Hilchenbach studied Protestant theology in Marburg and Göttingen . From 1772 he was representative of the Dutch legation preacher in Vienna, and later legation preacher. After Joseph II issued the tolerance patent in 1781 , he became the first pastor of the HB Evangelical Community in Vienna.

On March 23, 1782, the day after Pope Pius VI. Having visited Vienna, the Protestant community bought a plot of land on the corner of Dorotheergasse and Stallburggasse, and a few days later the construction of a prayer house began. On December 25, 1784, the first service was held in this house of prayer with a sermon given by Hilchenbach. Since then, this day has been regarded as the actual founding day of the evangelical congregation in Vienna.

Hilchenbach married the Huguenot Amalie Malvieux in 1785. His Lutheran colleague Johann Georg Fock carried out the wedding ceremony . In 1786 Hilchenbach became the clergyman of the Evangelical Consistory for the interests of the Evangelical Church HB. In 1794 he was a co-founder of the Evangelical School in Vienna. In 1804 he became an assessor of the Charity Court Commission. He was a co-founder and promoter of the first reading society in Vienna. For the construction of the Reformed Church in Vienna, he undertook several collecting trips to Holland. He was a member of the Viennese Masonic lodges On True Unity and On Truth .

literature

Constantin von Wurzbach : Hilchenbach, Karl Wilhelm . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 9th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1863, p. 11 f. ( Digitized version ).
Hilchenbach Karl Wilhelm. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1959, p. 315.
Ursula Rumpler: HILCHENBACH, Karl (Carl) Wilhelm. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 27, Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88309-393-2 , Sp. 650-661. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Individual evidence

^ Peter Karner : Evangelical in Vienna . In: Peter Karner (Hrsg.): The evangelical community HB in Vienna . Deuticke, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-7005-4579-7 , p. 212.

personal data
SURNAME	Hilchenbach, Carl Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Hilchenbach, Karl Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	reformed theologian
DATE OF BIRTH	April 19, 1749
PLACE OF BIRTH	Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH	April 13, 1816
Place of death	Vienna

[1] Peter Karner : Evangelical in Vienna . In: Peter Karner (Hrsg.): The evangelical community HB in Vienna . Deuticke, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-7005-4579-7 , p. 212.