Jakob Wosky from Bärenstamm

Jakob Johann Josef Wosky von Bärenstamm ( Upper Sorbian Jakub Jan Józef Wóski z Baerenstamma ; born July 26, 1692 in Crostwitz , Saxony , † December 3, 1771 in Bautzen ) was dean of the Catholic chapter St. Petri in Bautzen and from 1743 until his death Apostolic Prefect of the Diocese of Meissen in the two Lausitzes . Wosky was the first of the Bautzen deans to receive episcopal ordination .

Life

The Sorbe Jakub Jan Józef Wóski was the son of a wealthy farmer from Crostwitz, a place that was under the rule of the St. Marienstern Monastery and, like it, remained Catholic during the Reformation. He received his first training at the village school in his home town and at the Catholic school in Bautzen, which is maintained by the cathedral chapter .

Cross in memory of Jakob Wosky in Crostwitz

In 1712 Wosky went to Prague to study theology. He attended the Karl Ferdinand University and lived as an alumnus in the Wendish seminary on Prague's Lesser Town . In 1718 he was ordained a priest . In the following years Wosky worked as a chaplain and pastor in various parishes in his Upper Lusatian homeland until he received a benefice from the Bautzen chapter. In 1743 the Capitulars elected him as the successor to the late Johann Freyschlag von Schmidenthal as their dean. Two years later he was awarded Pope Benedict XIV. The pontificalia . This means that Wosky was now allowed to donate confirmations and ordinations. These rights were not only tied to Wosky's person, but were from then on all of his successors in the Bautzen deanery.

The Apostolic Prefecture of Meissen in Lusatia experienced a heyday under Wosky's leadership. Supported by the Catholic electoral family in Dresden, the dean expanded pastoral care in his area of ​​office and built new churches and parishes. He intensively promoted the veneration of St. Benno . In 1746 he had a Benno altar with a picture by Stefano Torelli built in the Petridom . The altar was later demolished; the altarpiece can be seen today in the Bautzen Cathedral Treasury. It was a gift from the Italian businessman Francesco Comolo from Dresden to the Bautzner chapter. The parish church in Ostro , financed by Wosky himself , was also dedicated to St. Benno consecrated. In addition to the Ostro church already mentioned, new Catholic churches were also built in Schirgiswalde , Nebelschütz , Crostwitz and Radibor during Wosky's deanery .

The cathedral dean also worried about the expansion of the elementary school system . The owners of the individual estates were responsible for this in Upper Lusatia. Under Wosky, numerous schools were expanded in the villages under the rule of the Bautzen Chapter, the living conditions of teachers improved and some new schools were built. The better educational opportunities benefited the Catholic Sorbs, who made up a large part of the subjects of the cathedral chapter.

In 1753 Wosky was appointed titular bishop of Pergamum . In the same year he received the episcopal ordination in Prague . In connection with his elevation to bishop Wosky received from Emperor Franz Stephan a title of nobility, "von Bärenstamm", and a coat of arms. This showed the Easter lamb with a crossed flag, a bear with a beehive and six silver balls.

literature

• Siegfried Seifert : The decline and rise of the Catholic Church in Saxony 1517–1773. (= Studies on the history of the Catholic diocese and monastery 6). Leipzig 1964.
• Sic transit gloria mundi ... funeral inscription for Jacob Wosky von Bärenstamm. Budissin 1771.

Web links

• Literature by and about Jakob Wosky von Bärenstamm in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry on Jakob Johann Joseph Wosky von Bärenstamm on catholic-hierarchy.org ; Retrieved July 18, 2016.