Josef Stangl

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Bishop Josef Stangl (1962)

Josef Stangl (born August 12, 1907 in Kronach ; † April 8, 1979 in Schweinfurt ) was a German priest, teacher and from 1957 to 1979 Bishop of Würzburg .

Origin, school and study time

District Court Street 5 in Kronach, birthplace of Josef Stangl

Stangl was born the son of the lawyer Cosmas Stangl and his wife Margaretha (née Scheubert), had five siblings and attended a single-class village school in Heidenheim during the First World War , in which his father took part as an officer with the rank of major , and from 1916 the old one High school in Bamberg . Because of the poor transport connections, Stangl lived in the Bamberg church home Aufseesianum .

From 1921 he attended the Königlich Neue Gymnasium in Würzburg , where he graduated from high school in 1925 , and lived there in the Ferdinandeum, a church dormitory founded in 1908 as a study seminar and named after Ferdinand von Schlör .

During his school days in Würzburg, Stangl was a member of the Catholic youth organization Bund New Germany and the Marian Congregation . For the profession of priest Stangl had already decided when he will be in April 1925 leaving certificate was awarded. After a semester at the University of Munich , he began studying philosophy and theology in Würzburg and entered the Würzburg seminary in 1926 . As an enthusiastic athlete, he joined the DJK (German Youth Force) in 1927 and in 1952 acquired the German sports badge in gold.

Professional life up to episcopal ordination

The ordination received Stangl on 16 March 1930 in Würzburg, where he worked in St. Barbara 's first Mass celebrated. He then became a chaplain in Thüngersheim , Himmelstadt and in the Herz-Jesu parish in Aschaffenburg .

From 1 September 1934, he worked as a teacher of religion teacher at the Institute of English Ladies in Würzburg was up to the abolition of school by the Nazis in 1938. From 1938 to 1943 he diocesan youth chaplain in Würzburg. Other professional positions of Stangl were: City pastor in Karlstadt (1943–1947), teacher and seminar leader at the teachers' training institute in Würzburg (1947–1952). In 1951, Stangl moved to the Ordinariate and in 1953 he became the first pastoral care officer of the Diocese of Würzburg. On October 1, 1956, he was appointed Regens (head) of the seminary by Bishop Döpfner .

The appointment of Stangl bishop by Pope Pius XII. of June 27, 1957 was not as surprising as it is sometimes portrayed in the literature in view of these diverse areas of activity and his leading functions in diocesan administration and the training of young people. He was ordained bishop on September 12th by the Archbishop of Bamberg , Josef Schneider , in the Neumünster Church in Würzburg .

Coat of arms of Josef Stangl

Episcopal coat of arms

The coat of arms shows three silver tips on a red background in fields 1 and 4 - the Franconian rake - it stands for the diocese of Würzburg. Fields 2 and 3 show seven golden tongues of fire in a blue field, four above and three below a golden cross river. It symbolizes the water, the flames, both the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and the seven sacraments .

His motto “Domino plebem perfectam” (A willing people to the Lord) comes from the Gospel of Luke ( Lk 1.17  EU ).

Act as a bishop

In the German Bishops' Conference, Stangl's most important function was that of youth officer from 1961 to 1970. He was also a member of the Commission for Latin America from 1961, of the Commission for Lay Questions and the Pastoral Commission from 1966, and of the Commission for Ecumenical Questions from 1968. The latter corresponded to a special focus of his work: since 1960 he was a member of the papal secretariat for the promotion of Christian unity ("Unity Secretariat") and national president of the papal organization Catholica Unio , which maintained dialogue with the Eastern Churches. The Unity Secretariat took the lead in preparing important documents for the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965): Unitatis redintegratio (ecumenical decree), Dignitatis humanae (declaration on religious freedom) and Nostra aetate (relationship to non-Christian religions, in particular the connection between the Church and the Judaism). Stangl's most important contribution was a sensational speech at the council, with which he helped the so-called Declaration of Jews to breakthrough (also at the inauguration ceremony of the new synagogue, which was built by Jews and Christians together in Würzburg from 1967 to 1970, he emphasized again, that the history of Judaism in Germany is not over and that every form of discrimination and anti-Semitism is prohibited).

On November 8, 1963, Stangl opened a 14-day regional mission in the Würzburg Frankenhalle , in which the 17 Würzburg parishes and their preachers took part.

Stangl also played a special role as host of the Joint Synod of the German Dioceses in Germany, which met from 1971 to 1975 in eight session periods in the Würzburg Cathedral. An outstanding event during this period was the beatification of the Würzburg diocesan priest Liborius Wagner (1593–1631) on March 24, 1974 in Rome. In their wake, Pope Paul VI called. 1975 Stangl joined the Congregation for the Process of Canonization.

Josef Stangl became known all over the world in connection with the "Exorcism of Klingenberg": At the request of those involved, he, as the responsible bishop, had allowed a "small" exorcism and later a "large" one on the severely mentally ill pedagogy student Anneliese Michel through the Salvatorian Father Arnold Renz arranged. Michel died on July 1, 1976 of physical exhaustion. The parents and the priests involved in the exorcism were held responsible for the fact that - following the alleged request of Anneliese Michel - no medical assistance had been called in. Bishop Stangl was never formally charged, but was heavily attacked, especially in the media, for failing to fulfill his duty of supervision. The preliminary investigation against Stangl for negligent homicide was closed by the public prosecutor in July 1977.

On Whit Saturday, May 28, 1977, Stangl, provisional chairman of the Bavarian Bishops' Conference after the death of Cardinal Julius Döpfner , consecrated the new Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Joseph Ratzinger (from April 19, 2005 to February 28, 2013 Pope Benedict XVI .), in the Munich Liebfrauendom .

From around 1978, Josef Stangl began to show symptoms of a gradually progressing disease: motor, speech and concentration disorders. His resignation, filed in Rome in November 1978, was accepted on January 8, 1979. Stangl died on April 8 at 2 p.m. in the St. Josef Hospital in Schweinfurt, run by the Catholic Sisters of the Redeemer . On April 11, 1979, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger led the Requiem at the funeral of Bishop Stangl in the crypt of the Würzburg Cathedral.

During his lifetime and well after his death, Stangl enjoyed great sympathy, especially in his diocese. The main reasons given are, on the one hand, his proverbial goodness, his educational charisma and his personal modesty, and, on the other hand, his efforts to enhance the role of the laity in the church.

Awards

Bischof Stangl Prize

The Bischof Stangl Prize has been awarded annually since 2011 and every two years since 2013 by the “Jugend ist Zukunft” foundation of the Association of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ) in Würzburg, with church youth work in the diocese of Würzburg and the voluntary commitment of young people People are honored who are involved in youth associations, acolytes or parish groups on a daily basis.

swell

The extensive estate of Josef Stangl is in the diocesan archive of Würzburg. It is generally still blocked due to protection periods, but viewing for scientific research is possible with special permits.

literature

  • Wolfgang Altgeld, Johannes Merz, Wolfgang Weiß (eds.): Josef Stangl 1907–1979, Bishop of Würzburg. Life stages in documents. Wuerzburg 2007.
  • Karl Hillenbrand (ed.): "A ready people for the Lord". The spiritual profile of Bishop Josef Stangl. Wuerzburg 2007.
  • Christoph Weißmann: Josef Stangl (1907–1979). In: Franconian pictures of life. Vol. 22, Schweinfurt 2009, pp. 353-377.
  • Klaus Wittstadt: Church and State in the 20th Century. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , pp. 453–478 and 1304 f., Here: pp. 470–475 ( renewal in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council - Bishop Josef Stangl ).

Web links

Commons : Josef Stangl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ludwig Hertel: History of Kronach in street names - A guide through the 1000-year-old Franconian town . 3. Edition. Kronach 2015.
  2. ↑ a b c Klaus Wittstadt: Church and State in the 20th Century. P. 470.
  3. ↑ a b Klaus Wittstadt: Church and State in the 20th Century. P. 475.
  4. ↑ Verbatim rendering of the arrangement in: Felicitas D. Goodman: Anneliese Michel and their demons . 5th edition. Christiana-Verlag , Weil am Rhein 2005, ISBN 3-7171-0781-X , p. 121 f .
  5. ↑ Detailed description of the prehistory of the arrangement with reference to other sources: Petra Ney-Hellmuth: Der Fall Anneliese Michel . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-8260-5230-9 , p. 39 ff. p. 41 .
  6. ↑ Detailed description of the exorcism of the Main Franconian teacher training student Anneliese Michel from September 1975. In: Felicitas D. Goodman: Anneliese Michel and her demons . 5th edition. Christiana-Verlag, Weil am Rhein 2005, ISBN 3-7171-0781-X , p. 126-129 .
  7. ↑ Lukas Hartmann: Appreciation of church youth work by the Bishop Stangl Prize. In: bistum-wuerzburg.de. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012 ; accessed on July 16, 2020 (interview with Kristina Bopp). Projects and actions of the “Youth is Future” foundation. In: jugend-ist-zukunft.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2016 ; accessed on July 16, 2020 .
predecessor Office successor
Julius Döpfner Bishop of Würzburg
1957–1979 		Paul-Werner Scheele
personal data
SURNAME Stangl, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German clergyman, Bishop of Würzburg
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Kronach
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1979
Place of death Schweinfurt