Saxon Franciscan Province

750 years of Franciscans in Berlin (1237–1987)

The Saxon Franciscan Province (Provincia Saxonia or Saxonia ) was an order province of the Franciscans . It was created in 1230 when the province of Teutonia was divided into a Rhenish and a Saxon province and, after further divisions and territorial shifts, existed as the Saxon Province of the Holy Cross until 2010, when it merged with the other German provinces to form the German Franciscan Province of St. Elisabeth joined forces.

history

Foundation and expansion

Creation of the structures

The Franciscan Order was founded in Italy by Francis of Assisi in 1209 and was founded in 1210 by Pope Innocent III. approved. The first Franciscans came to Cologne in 1222, which then became the center of what was originally the only German province of Teutonia . In 1223 the brothers reached the territory of the later province of Saxonia for the first time with Hildesheim . Because it was possible to win new members of the Order "on site" in the flourishing cities - preferably in the episcopal cities - the language difficulties of the first brothers who had come from Italy were soon overcome, and the Franciscan movement also developed in Germany with astonishing speed. The provincials of the German provinces were only exceptionally Germans in the beginning; The general ministers and later the general chapter appointed particularly capable brothers as heads of the provinces, regardless of their national origin.

As early as 1230, a Rhenish (Provincia Rheni) and a Saxon province (Provincia Saxonia) emerged from Teutonia . In 1239 the Dacia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, with Schleswig and Holstein ) and the Bohemia (Bohemia) were separated from the Saxonia . This gave Saxonia the area in which it was active until the Reformation .

Scope of the province

The western border of this "old" Saxonia was the Weser . In the north the province included Hamburg and Lübeck, in the south it comprised Silesia and reached in the south-west as far as Eger , in the east it extended - with the exception of Lithuania - as far as Livonia ( Riga ).

Custodians

Compared to the province of Colonia , the expansion of Saxonia in the very large, less urbanized territories was more laborious and protracted; the establishment of convents was delayed by a decade compared to Colonia , with a focus on the Baltic Sea region and Silesia. Around 1250 Saxonia had around 44 convents, around 1300 around 93, which were divided into 12 administrative areas, called " custodians ", namely

• Brandenburg,
• Bremen,
• Breslau, separated from Saxonia in 1239 as the province of Bohemia ( Bohemia ), since 1274 again in Saxonia as a custody
• Goldberg in Lower Silesia, until 1262 as Custodia Budensis in the Bohemia , then incorporated into Saxonia , reclassified in 1266, permanently part of Saxonia since 1269 , from 1274 by decision of the General Chapter in Lyon as Custodie Goldberg .
• Halberstadt,
• Leipzig,
• Lübeck ,
• Magdeburg,
• Meissen,
• Prussia, smallest custody with 6 convents: Braunsberg, Danzig , Kulm , Neuchâtel , Thorn , Wartenburg
• Szczecin
• Thuringia.

After the establishment of Oberservanten monasteries in Dorpat , Fellin and Lemsal between 1466 and 1472, these formed the custody of Livonia with the convent in Riga , but this was lost in the 16th century as a result of the Reformation.

development

Throughout the 14th century, the province, with around 100 branches and around 1000 brothers, was the most conventual in the entire Franciscan order.

It was an advantage that the Franciscans were supported in many places by the princes and city leaders and encouraged to found monasteries. East of the Elbe, the founding of monasteries was a factor in the German settlement in the east and the consolidation of Christianity or even Christianization . However, the expansion slowed down in the first half of the 14th century and then came to a complete standstill. It was only with the penetration of the observance movement that about 25 monasteries were founded again from around 1450. As early as the 13th century, conflicts arose over the provincial membership of the convents in the border area between Silesia, Poland ( Piasts ) and Bohemia ( Přemyslids ), which mainly affected the custodians of Goldberg, Breslau and in some cases also Prussia and could not really be resolved throughout the Middle Ages .

As early as the 13th century, a training system for the next generation of the order developed in the order in the form of home studies in individual convents (studium custodiale, studium particulare) , in which lecturers imparted knowledge of the artes liberales and the foundations of theology, such as those for pastoral care and the sermon was necessary. For positions at the management level of the religious provinces, as house superiors or lecturers, in-depth knowledge was soon required, and “general studies” (studia generalia) were established in the individual provinces , in which four to five-year internal theological studies were completed. These general studies cooperated with the emerging universities in several places. The religious studies of Saxonia in Erfurt were integrated into the theological faculty of the newly founded University of Erfurt in 1392 with the religious studies of the Augustinian hermits and Dominicans ; Within the order, Erfurt received the status of a general course of study for the order, to which talented brothers from numerous other provinces of the order were sent to study. For Saxonia , Erfurt was the training center for executives; six of the twelve provincial ministers up to 1517 had acquired a doctorate in Erfurt. The first Franciscans to matriculate in 1395 were Provincial Minister Johannes von Chemnitz and his successor (from 1396) Johannes von Minden, who from 1400 also acted as Magister regens , head of Franciscan studies, and held a chair at the university. Another general course of Saxonia was in Rostock , which had good relations with the University of Rostock , founded in 1419 .

Around the middle of the 14th century, the province of Saxonia, like its neighboring province of Colonia , suffered severely from the outbreak of the plague . According to estimates, two thirds of the brothers could have fallen victim to the disease, in some convents (Magdeburg, Braunschweig) only a few remained alive. The Franciscans looked after the sick in this emergency at risk of their own lives and stood by the dying.

Divisions and Reformation

Monastery and monastery church St. Johannis in Brandenburg (status 1860)

Observance movement

On the eve of the Reformation, the province had grown to 116 monasteries. When the Franciscan Order split up in 1517 as a result of the poverty dispute in the Order into the Conventuals (now called Minorites ) and Observants , all these branches joined the stricter reform branch of the Observants.

As early as 1428, the monastery in Brandenburg and other monasteries in Brandenburg had turned to the observance movement and received approval from Pope Pius V to elect their own provincial vicar in 1450 ; they now formed their own custody within Saxonia and held their own provincial chapter in 1452. Provincial Matthias Döring (1427–1461) was an opponent of strict observance and was anxious not to lose any other convents to the strict poverty movement in the order. At a provincial chapter in September 1430, Saxonia adopted the “ Martinian Constitutions ” named after Pope Martin V and shaped by the observance movement. They represented a middle way in the poverty struggle, on the one hand demanding the renunciation of papal dispensations from the vows of poverty and on the other hand repealing the independent organizational structures of the observants under the direction of their own vicars. Provincial Döring offered the observant-oriented convents as "Reformed sub ministris " the assignment to a visitor regiminis with the rank of custodian who was subordinate to the provincial. Successively, several provincial convents were reformed in the spirit of this way of life, which was characterized by a more consistent interpretation of the vow of poverty and the handling of money. Property ownership and fixed income should be prohibited, other income was owned by the Holy See and should be administered by a secular procurator. This ideal could not be implemented in practice, especially since Provincial Döring did not force it. At the end of Döring's tenure in 1461, only seven of the 80 or so convents of Saxonia had gone over to strict observance, most of them were Martinian. The interpretation of the Martinian Constitutions, however, differed from one convent to another. Disputes about the orientation of a convent did not always go smoothly, on the one hand among the religious themselves, on the other hand also outside the monastery, whereby bishops, community councils, secular clergy, monasteries of other orders and the population could be involved. Some sovereigns also influenced the promotion of the observance movement in Saxonia , such as the Brandenburg Margrave Friedrich I , the Mecklenburg dukes Magnus II and Heinrich V , Duke Friedrich the Pious in Celle and Wilhelm III. as a Thuringian landgrave.

Division of the province

On September 14, 1509, around 400 brothers gathered at the provincial chapter in Rostock and decided on a thorough reform of the province in the spirit of observance. All the convents were obliged to accept the Statuta Iulii , which were decided at the General Chapter in 1506 and published in 1508 with the power of Pope Julius II . The statutes were an attempt to unite Observants, Franciscans and smaller reform groups in the order; however, the two tendencies of the observants and the Martinians remained. In 1518, however, the Observant Province of Saxonia was divided by the General Chapter in Lyon into the Saxon Province of St. Cross (Saxonia Sanctae Crucis) and the Saxon Province of St. John the Baptist (Saxonia Sancti Johannis Baptistae) , not according to geographical aspects, but again according to a more or less strict observation of the rule of the order. The two provinces partially overlapped spatially.

The previous "observants" formed the province of St. Cross with branches in Angermünde , Annaberg , Arnstadt , Brandenburg , Celle, Chemnitz, Dorpat , Eger , Eisenach, St. Paul , Franciscan monastery St. Elisabeth below the Wartburg, Fellin , Gandersheim, Göttingen , Güstrow , Halle, Hasenpoth , Jüterbog , Königsberg , Kokenhusen , Langensalza, Lauenburg , Leipzig , Lemsal , Löbau (West Prussia) , Lüneburg, Magdeburg , Osterode, Riga, Saalfeld (East Prussia) , Schleusingen , Stadthagen , Steinlausigk (Muldenstein) , Tilsit , Wehlau (East Prussia) , Weimar, Wesenberg and Winsen the Luhe. In 1520 the Custody Holstein of the Danish province of Dacia with the monasteries of Kiel , Schleswig , Husum , Flensburg and Lunden was added by decision of the interim chapter of the order in Bordeaux .

In the province of St. John the Baptist brought together the Franciscans who lived according to the Martinian Statutes. Their monasteries were in Altenburg , Arnswalde , Aschersleben , Barby , Bautzen , Berlin , Braunschweig , Bremen , Breslau, Brieg , Burg , Coburg , Cottbus , Danzig , Dramburg , Dresden , Erfurt , Freiberg, Goldberg , Görlitz , Goslar , Gransee , Greifenberg, Greifswald , Halberstadt , Hamburg , Hanover , Hildesheim , Hof , Jobstberg (near Bayreuth), Krossen (Oder), Kulm , Kyritz , Lauban , Liegnitz , Löbau (in Saxony), Löwenberg , Meiningen , Meißen, Mellenbach, Mühlhausen , Münsterberg (Silesia ), Namslau, Neisse, Neubrandenburg , Neuenburg (Weichsel), Neumarkt (Silesia), Nordhausen, Oschatz , Parchim , Prenzlau , Pyritz , Quedlinburg , Ribnitz , Rostock , Saalfeld (Thuringia) , Sagan , Salzwedel , Schweidnitz , Schwerin , Seusslitz , Sorau , Stade, Stendal , Stettin , Stralsund , Strehlen , Thorn , Torgau, Wartenburg , Weida , Weissenfels, Wismar , Wittenberg, Zeitz , Zerbst , Zittau and Zwickau.

The Thuringian Franciscan Province ( Thuringia , also Upper Saxon Province) with the custodians of Leipzig, Meissen, Thuringia, Breslau, Goldberg and Prussia was separated from the Province of St. John the Baptist in 1521 , with the Province of St. John the Baptist (Lower Saxony province) remained the custodians of Brandenburg, Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Lübeck, Stettin and Bremen. This division was declared invalid at the General Chapter of Burgos in 1523, as it was carried out without the permission of the order's leadership. Both provinces went under as a result of the monasteries being closed by the Reformation and the Peasant Wars by the middle of the 16th century, and it can no longer be clarified to what extent the division of the provinces had actually already been implemented. The last two convents of the Province of St. John the Baptist joined the Province of St. Cross to: 1541 Halberstadt and 1550 Greifswald.

Effects of the Reformation and the Peasant Wars

The development of the convents at the time of the Reformation and the circumstances of their almost invariably dissolution was inconsistent. Provincial leadership and numerous convents opposed the introduction of the Reformation with sermons, writings and petitions. In 1520 Thomas Müntzer preached in Zwickau and attacked the Franciscans sharply. Their complaint to the Bishop of Naumburg and the arbitration efforts of the Zwickau Council were unsuccessful. Martin Luther preached in 1522 in the Franciscan churches in Zwickau and Altenburg. There were also disputations with reformers, for example in Celle in 1524. Other Franciscans appeared as preachers with Lutheran views and promoted the Reformation.

When the monasteries were closed as a result of the Peasant Wars, the Franciscans were looted and mistreated in many places. The Reformation was also enforced in some places with violence, the ban on reading masses and interference in the life of the convent; In Zwickau, the city council reacted to their refusal to accept the Reformation in the period from 1517 to 1525 with increasingly severe reprisals, including walling up the brothers in the monastery. The property of the religious was confiscated, some of the buildings were soon demolished or given a new use. In some places individual Franciscans or at least the elderly and the sick could stay in the monastery, for example in Hamburg, where the Franciscans had voluntarily handed over their monastery; there the remaining Franciscans received an annuity from the city.

Development of the Saxonia S. Crucis after the Reformation

Former convent buildings (1511-1829) and monastery church St. Jodokus in Bielefeld, from 1627 to Saxonia duly

From the Saxon Province of St. Cross passed at the end of the 16th century only the convents in Eger and Halberstadt. When Eger was incorporated into the Strasbourg province in 1603, the convent in Halberstadt turned to the monastery in Bielefeld, which belonged to the Cologne province (Colonia) , with a request for help . The Cologne Province was at this time due to the Counter-Reformation and recatholicization large parts of their territory settled there and could even extend to the Palatinate into it. Seven Franciscans of Colonia from Bielefeld therefore moved to Halberstadt in 1616, so that the tradition of the old Saxonia was not interrupted, although in 1626 the last member of the province died. It was Father Johannes Tetteborn, appointed provincial commissioner of Saxonia by General Minister Franziscus of Toledo in 1603 and the only Franciscan in Halberstadt in 1616.

In 1606 the General Chapter of Toledo merged the Saxon Province of the Holy Cross with the Strasbourg Province , but on May 17, 1625, Saxonia was revived by the General Chapter in Rome. In 1627 the Cologne province ceded its eastern part to Saxonia . An agreement was reached on the Main as the southern border of the Saxon province, with the Rhine in the west; the Saxonia should keep a distance of three leagues from the convents of the Colonia in Uerdingen, Düsseldorf, Zons and Cologne. On July 23, 1628, the first provincial chapter of the renewed Saxonia appointed superior ones for the monasteries in Bielefeld, Dorsten, Fulda, Gelnhausen, Göttingen, Halberstadt, Hamm, Limburg, Minden, Münster (Westphalia), Osnabrück, Rietberg, Warendorf and Wetzlar. In 1635 the Saxon Province ceded the convents in Fulda, Gelnhausen, Korbach, Gelnhausen and Wetzlar to the Thuringian Franciscan Province and now saw Westphalia, East and West Friesland, Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Halberstadt and Magdeburg as their territory. The province's territory has shifted several times in the course of its history. The main monastery (conventus primarius, conventus capitularis) and from 1639 also the seat of the provincial minister was Münster from 1627.

Saxonia's efforts to re-establish convents in Saxony were unsuccessful. From the middle of the 17th century, the province therefore expanded its position in Westphalia and developed a system of outposts in the east, called “ mission stations ”, similar to the Jesuits . No convents were founded, but two or three priests settled in different places and began to give pastoral care to the few Catholics who remained in the diaspora or to the Catholic soldiers of a garrison, initially in secret in some places. The Saxonia went there as scheduled before and took over, starting from the convents in Paderborn and Halberstadt, such pastoral care items, which were among themselves only a day trip, was possible among themselves and with the province of contact so that. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Saxonia looked after about 50 such mission stations in Saxony, Anhalt and also in Braunschweig, in East Friesland and the Emsland, but never in this number at the same time. In 1777 the mission stations were awarded the same indulgences by papal breve as the convents, so that specifically Franciscan forms of pastoral care such as the Way of the Cross and Portiuncula -Abass were facilitated. In 1642 the Franciscans in Dorsten took over teaching at a grammar school for the first time, the grammar school Petrinum ; Until then, there had only been in-house teaching activities in the monastery to train the next generation of the order, in which, at most, young citizens could take part.

18th century

The Franciscan Monastery in Paderborn (2012)

After a period of internal expansion and consolidation, the province reached a boom in the first half of the 18th century, which turned into stagnation at the end of the century under the influence of the Enlightenment . Around 1680 the province consisted of 18 convents and 510 brothers, around 1800 there were around 800 brothers in 18 convents, 8 residences and around 30 mission stations. At that time, Saxonia also had sister houses: Poor Clares in Münster, Haselünne and Vreden, Annunciators in Coesfeld and Wiedenbrück, Tertiary Sisters in Kamen, Lütgendortmund, Glane, Rhynern and Griethausen and Ursulines in Dorsten and Elten. The monasteries of Saxonia , like those of Colonia and Thuringia, had all joined the recollects within the observance movement since the 17th century , so that there was no split in the province on this issue.

In the 18th century the province maintained several study houses for the training of its clergy, most of which were equipped with considerable libraries. The main study house was in Münster, where dogmatic-scholastic theology was taught, just like in Halberstadt and Paderborn. The study of moral theology took place in Rheine and Vechta, and Bible exegesis and canon law in Bielefeld and Elten. Study houses for philosophy were in Dorsten, Rietberg, Vreden, Warendorf and Wiedenbrück.

In addition to teaching in the provincial study houses, the Saxon Franciscans were also active as lecturers in universities. At the University of Münster , which opened in 1774 , three Franciscans (Basilius Zurhorst, Innozenz Göcken and Kasimir Schnösenberg) taught at the theological faculty and one (Alexander Murarius) at the philosophy faculty. This was also due to the benevolence that the university's curator, Franz Freiherr von Fürstenberg , showed towards the Franciscans. Acharius Apel taught at the Electoral Cologne Academy in Bonn , and Lothar Brockhoff and Xaverius Drolshagen at the University of Paderborn . After all, provincial members worked as lecturers in the monasteries of other orders: the Cross Lords , Premonstratensians , Carthusians , Cistercians and Augustinians . In 1802 a total of 35 members of the province were philosophy or theology lecturers, 47 Franciscans were in school service. However, teaching was usually a transitory stage for young provincial priests before they took on other duties; In addition to studying philosophy and theology, they had no further educational training.

At the end of the 18th century, Saxonia had 12 grammar schools in Dorsten, Vechta, Rheine, Warendorf, Vreden, Geseke, Wipperfürth, Recklinghausen, Rietberg, Meppen, Osnabrück and Coesfeld. The last three were Jesuit grammar schools that the province took over between 1776 and 1782 after Pope Clement XIV repealed the Jesuit order in 1773. Some schools were preceded by an elementary school, and a philosophy course followed at six locations, leading to the university. This commitment came to an end with secularization; the last Franciscans worked in Dorsten until 1836 and in Rietberg until 1853. In the Hochstift Münster , the Franciscan high schools actively participated in the high school reform of the Minister Franz von Fürstenberg , which, in addition to the classical formal education, also gave subjects such as mathematics, natural sciences, history, German language and literature a higher priority. The Provincial of Saxonia , Fabian Decheringk, apparently had a close contact with Fürstenberg and willingly worked on the development of the content of the grammar schools. He also sent the Fürstenberg curriculum to grammar schools outside the Münster Hochstift and thus contributed to the expansion of the Münster school reform.

The Franciscans had been running a cloth factory in Rheine since 1732 under the direction of two lay brothers, who produced the fabric for the religious habit.

19th century

Secularization and Reconstruction

The Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of Regensburg (February 25, 1802) brought about the secularization of spiritual territories and gave the sovereigns the right to expropriate and abolish monasteries. In the electorate of Bavaria , these provisions were implemented soon. In Saxonia, the convents located in the Duchy of Berg in Hardenberg-Neviges and Wipperfürth were affected, which were abolished in 1804, but in fact initially continued to exist. The Cologne Franciscan Province with around a thousand brothers in 38 monasteries was completely wiped out: the French government had already abolished the province's monasteries on the left bank of the Rhine in 1802, the ones on the right bank of the Rhine fell victim to a decree of the Bavarian-Palatinate-Bergish government in 1804 .

From around 1794 French Franciscans, who emigrated as a result of the French Revolution, also came to the area of ​​Saxonia and were accepted by several convents until they returned to France or traveled on; quite a number of them were incorporated into Saxonia.

On March 19, 1803, the Prussian king initially decreed that the monasteries should not be dissolved immediately. However, other state measures also resulted in major restrictions for the Saxon province:

• Between 1803 and 1804 the monastery archives were sealed, and the state demanded lists of members of the convent and lists of monastery property, valuables and food. The inventories showed, however, that there was nothing to get from the mendicant orders for the tax authorities; Many a monastery owes its existence to this fact.
• In 1804 the transfer of Franciscans between the individual convents was severely restricted; contacts between the convents and with the provincial leadership were prohibited on February 18, 1804.
• The order of the Prussian government of July 20, 1804 that the next generation of the Order had to be trained at state universities meant the end of home studies in the province.
• On August 11, 1811, all male monasteries in Prussia are prohibited from accepting new members; Since then, the Franciscans have been able to obtain a novice admission in a few individual cases.

By resolution of Emperor Napoleon , most of the Westphalian monasteries were dissolved in November 1811 and February 1812. After the abolition of the convent in Münster, the long-time Provincial Firminus Flören managed the province as Commissarius provincialis from a private apartment in Münster until his death on March 18, 1822 . After his death, Pope Pius VII appointed Josef Schmedding as his successor, as an election was not possible due to government restrictions. An election could be made after Schmedding's death in 1828, and then again in 1843.

These measures led to the fact that most of the monasteries in the Saxon Franciscan Province went out, mainly due to a lack of staff. Between 1810 and 1820 over 150 priests died; In monasteries in which twenty Franciscans had previously lived, three to six Franciscans remained, overburdened with work and oppressed by the fear of annulment. The convents in Dorsten, Paderborn, Rietberg, Warendorf and Wiedenbrück remained in existence. Hardenberg-Neviges from the province of Colonia was formally abolished in 1804, but the brothers stayed and continued to exercise pastoral care, now in the Association of Saxonia .

The first easing took place in 1825 when King Friedrich Wilhelm III. approved the continued existence of the monasteries in Dorsten and Paderborn, which were also allowed to accept novices again. Nevertheless, there were still closings of monasteries afterwards. In 1842 the Guardian of the monastery in Dorsten sent a request to the Belgian Franciscan Province and asked for personal support and the opportunity to train the next generation of the order in Belgium.

Werl Monastery around 1880

On November 27, 1843, the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Allowed the Franciscans to accept novices - with individual approval - and the election of a provincial, the monasteries in Dorsten, Paderborn, Warendorf and Wiedenbrück continued - albeit subject to certain conditions assured. At that time the province comprised 74 Franciscans: 36 priests and 38 lay brothers. The first four novices began the novitiate in Warendorf in October 1844, where philosophy was again set up. When a new monastery was founded in the former Capuchin monastery in Werl in 1849 , the province began to flourish. Saxonia regained its unlimited freedom to found a monastery and to accept novices on January 31, 1850. From 1854 the province was called "Rhenish-Westphalian Province of the Holy Cross". After the establishment of a residence on the Hülfensberg in Thuringia , it called itself again from 1862, with the approval of the General Chapter, "Saxon Province".

In the 19th century, 28 monastery sites were added, partly as a new establishment, partly as a re-establishment of former convents, namely in Westphalia, the Rhineland, Thuringia and Silesia. However, the province was unable to accept all offers to establish residences. Founding of monasteries in Koblenz, Krefeld, Münstermaifeld and Siegburg were rejected.

In 1852 a number of provincial members seceded themselves, joined the reform movement of the Alcantarines and founded a custody with three monasteries in Silesia. However, the reform failed as early as 1855. The Alcantarin monastery on Annaberg took over Saxonia in 1858/1859 , and the Joseph monastery near Neustadt / OS in 1863.

Kulturkampf in Prussia

The Prussian Kulturkampf had far-reaching effects on the Saxon Franciscan Province. In the fall of 1874 in the Rhine province , the scheduling banned as begging, what the Catholics did not prevent the further donations. Some fathers were hindered and reported by the state in their pastoral care with reference to the May Laws of May 1873. In the Monastery Act of May 31, 1875, it was determined that “spiritual orders and religious congregations of the Catholic Church”, with the exception of orders that were exclusively dedicated to nursing the sick, were banned in Prussia and had to be dissolved within six months. 16 monasteries were affected by the Saxonia. In Hardenberg-Neviges, three Franciscans announced to the church council that they were leaving the order so that they could continue pastoral care in the parish. In Remagen, the religious stayed on site despite the official suspension. In Düsseldorf the citizens protested against the closure of the monastery; the last 22 members left the convention on August 15, 1875 with great sympathy from the population. The farewell of the brothers also took place in other places with strong participation from friends of the monastery. As a rule, a farewell sermon was given, a holy mass was celebrated and the eternal light was extinguished. In some places there were also violent protests of the citizens against the representatives of the state, who brought the repeal order.

In September 1875, thanks to the foresighted initiative and organizational skills of Provincial Gregor Janknecht, most of the 260 Franciscans of Saxonia were able to manage six houses in Holland and Belgium (Beezel (1875–1887), Harreveld (1875–1909), Brunssum (1875–1887), Püth (1875–1884), Bleyerheide ( Kerkrade ) (from 1875) and Moresnet (from 1875)), later Watersleyde (1875–1882) and Verviers (1876–1879) were added. Some brothers had to temporarily stay with their families or in church houses until the move was settled; Pastoral activity is prohibited by the state. Provincial Janknecht endeavored to keep the brothers together in their own houses, because he expected the repression to be settled and a return would be easier if a uniform observance could be obtained. A switch to the Bohemian and Austrian Franciscan Province did not materialize. About 150 brothers were distributed to the provincial monasteries in America, the number of which had to be increased by four houses. Even in exile, novitiate and religious studies were continued at various locations. The further use of the monasteries was different, according to the respective legal ownership. Janknecht was able to rent some houses to friends for 10 to 15 years. Some brothers stayed in civilian clothes in the monasteries or nearby private apartments to supervise them or because they were ill, such as the lay brother and sculptor Hugo Linderath in Düsseldorf .

Shortly before the beginning of the Kulturkampf, in 1870, Saxonia had resumed its activities in the school system, but now not on behalf of the state, but for reasons of its own. In 1870 the province founded a Latin school on Annaberg in Silesia, a six-year advanced high school for the province's offspring, which had to be closed again in 1875. The province then founded a school with boarding school in Watersleyde in the Netherlands in 1876, which moved to Harreveld near Winterswijk in 1882 , where it stayed until 1909 and then moved to Vlodrop as the St. Ludwig College ; Harreveld was also the seat of the novitiate from 1876 until it was able to return to Warendorf in 1896. Later, from 1895 to 1967, the Thuringian Franciscan Province ran a grammar school with boarding school in Watersleyde; since 1967 it has been in Großkrotzenburg.

Activity abroad

North America

In 1858, eight members of the province - three fathers, three lay brothers, and two Terciars - went to North America to establish a settlement at the request of the Bishop of Alton in Teutopolis ( Effingham, Illinois ), Damian Juncker . On October 3, 1858, they took over pastoral care in Teutopolis. The church was only in the shell, in the rectory they initially only had three rooms and three beds. Soon they were holding popular missions throughout southern Illinois. Since it was not possible to travel in an orderly habit and without cash in America, the order administration gave them a dispensation from these restrictions in 1859. In 1959 and 1960 more brothers arrived from Saxonia . In 1860 Provincial Gregor Janknecht came for a seven-week visit. By 1870, Saxonia built a total of six houses in the states of Illinois (Teutopolis, Quincy ), Tennessee ( Memphis ), Ohio ( Cleveland ) and Missouri ( St. Louis ), its own novitiate (1860) and three study monasteries. The “American Mission” of the German Franciscans achieved the status of a “Commissariat” in 1862. Because of the Kulturkampf in Prussia, around 150 members of Saxonia went to North America in 1875 and 1876 , only 23 of them later returned to Germany, the others decided to stay in America permanently. On the initiative of the Saxon Province, its American Commissariat with four convents and ten residences became the independent Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on April 26, 1879 ; Vincent Halbfaß became the first Provincial.

Brazil

Saxonia's activities in Brazil began in 1891 when four provincial residents settled in Theresopolis, Brazil . The province had received the order in 1889 from the general chapter of the order to participate in the reconstruction of the Brazilian provinces. Ten years later, on September 14, 1901, two religious provinces were established in Brazil: the Province of St. Anthony in the north and the Province of the Immaculate Conception in the south. By then, the Saxon Province had sent 165 brothers to Brazil. Nine of them died in a yellow fever epidemic in 1896 . Another engagement of the German Franciscans took place in 1951 in the northeastern states of Piauí and Maranhão ; In 1964 this mission area became the “Commissariat S. Mariae Assumptae de Maranhão et Piauí”, which became the “ Custody of Our Lady of the Assumption” on September 10, 1967 , became the Vice Province on January 1, 1992 and became a Province on December 8, 2004 Seat in Bacabal raised. Of the 63 members of the province (2012), 13 are Germans and 50 Brazilians.

Italy

In the Italian province of Lazio , the Saxon Province founded a branch in Castel S. Elia in 1892 in what was then the double diocese of Nepi-Sutri , where Bernhard Döbbing, who belonged to the province, was bishop from 1900 until his death in 1916. In 1883 Bernhard Döbbing was appointed lecturer at the St. Isidoro College in Rome, which belonged to the Irish Franciscan Province. In 1891 Franciscans of Saxonia took over the management of a school in Capranica near Nepi, which had also been founded by the Irish Franciscan Province. With reference to its work in America, however, the province had refused in 1890 the personal support of the General Study of San Antonio in Rome requested by the order leadership .

The engagement of Saxonia in St. Isidore and Capranica happened in connection with a discipline and reform of the Irish Franciscan Province, whose way of life had deviated from the rules of the Franciscan way of life as a result of the oppression of the Catholic Church in Ireland. At the request of the Order's leadership, Saxonia participated in the reform, which also led to tensions between the two provinces. Gregor Janknecht visited the Irish Province on behalf of the Minister General in 1879 and 1888 and was appalled by what he found. The religious there held neither choir prayers nor retreats, neglected community life and were generous with money. The leadership of the Order ensured that newly entering friars did not complete their novitiate and their training in Ireland, but instead came to Germany and Rome and, together with Brothers from Saxonia sent there, should learn the rules of the Franciscan Observance. From 1885 the novitiate for the Irish was in Harreveld. The first Irish Franciscans trained in this way began to take over individual monasteries in Ireland in 1896 - the first was the convent in Multyfarnham on December 11, 1896 - and they gradually succeeded in filling all houses with reformers. From 1897 Saxonia withdrew from the support of the Irish province in favor of its involvement in Brazil.

China

In 1904 China also became a mission area of ​​the Saxon Franciscan Province. Tsinan in the province of North Shantung becomes the seat of the bishop and the administration of the order. 71 German Franciscans worked there until 1942. On March 8, 1952, Cyrillus Jarre, Archbishop of Tsinan, died. He had worked for Saxonia in China since 1904 and had been in custody for political reasons since October 1951.

Mission associations

In addition to the commitment of the province overseas, numerous monasteries in Germany established “ mission associations ” that supported the work of the missionaries through prayer and donations and some of them had several thousand members. The magazine “Antonius-Bote” dealt with mission issues from 1916, and in 1922 a provincial mission administration was set up in Werl to coordinate the work of the “mission procurators” in the individual monasteries. In 1913 a mission museum was founded in Dorsten, but it was destroyed in the Second World War. A new, expanded mission museum in Werl was created from the holdings in 1962, called the “Forum of the Nations” from 1987 onwards. From Werl the work of Franciscans in different parts of the world was supported by the mission administration of the province.

Main areas of activity since the Kulturkampf

College Sankt Ludwig in Vlodrop around 1910

On April 29, 1887, the Franciscans in Prussia were again allowed to help out in pastoral care and to accept new members. Gradually the religious returned to their previous convents; they were urged by the provincial government to wear their habit again and to observe the regular order. The houses in Holland were given up, only the branch in Harreveld with its school remained and was elevated to a convent in 1891, as the Franciscans were not allowed to build schools after their return to Prussia. In addition to the boarding school, the Saxonia in Harreveld also had their novitiate. Of 1361 Harreveld students between 1882 and 1907, 1,137 entered the novitiate.

The school moved to Vlodrop in 1909 and remained as Kolleg St. Ludwig , a German school abroad with boarding school with space for 280 pupils, until 1979 under the sponsorship of Saxonia ; it was named after the Franciscan “youth patron” Ludwig von Toulouse . In 1927 another college was added in Exaten near Roermond, which was transferred to the Cologne Province in 1929 and existed until 1967.

The two convents in Fulda and Salmünster that remained from the submerged “Thuringian Province” were assigned to Saxonia in 1853 by the Bishop of Fulda , where they were given a certain degree of independence from 1855 as custodian “Thuringia S. Elisabeth”. In 1894 the custody was re-established by the order's leadership as an independent “Thuringian Franciscan Province of St. Elisabeth”.

On May 24, 1888, the first re-establishment of a convent took place at the Aegidius Church in Breslau, whose main task was to hear confessions in the Breslau Cathedral; In 1890, construction of a monastery began in Mönchengladbach and Ulrichgasse in Cologne.

In 1893, the bishops transferred pastoral care to the Poles, who were resident in large numbers as workers in the Ruhr area (" Ruhrpolen "), entirely to the Franciscans of the Saxon province, as they had confreres from Silesia who spoke both German and Polish languages; In 1900, however, the province had to quit this task because the Fathers were overloaded. The monasteries in Silesia ( St. Aegidii in Breslau, St. Annaberg , Josefskloster near Neustadt / Oberschlesien , Hospiz Kapellenberg near Neustadt / OS, Breslau-Carlowitz and Neisse ) with about 100 brothers were merged in 1902 to form an independent custody, which in 1911 Silesian Province of St. Hedwig “ (Silesia) was.

In 1894 the Saxon province had 657 brothers in 25 settlements (180 fathers, 126 clergy, 125 lay brothers and 145 tertiary ). The Provincial Office had been in Düsseldorf since 1897, previously in Warendorf. On March 12, 1903, two companies were founded in order to ensure the legally secure activities of the monasteries and the province: the "Florentin Kaufmann & Co. Limited Liability Company" (after Provincial Minister Joseph Kaufmann) and the "Josef Falke & Co. GmbH" (after Didakus Falke, the Guardian of the Werl Monastery).

20th century

The first decades

Wiedenbrück Monastery (right) with “Patersbogen” to St. Mary's Church

Franciscans were active in parish pastoral care in numerous places, mainly in the form of temporary help as confessor and at church services to support pastors in the surrounding communities. Up until the First World War, people were initially reluctant to take on pastoral positions as regular pastors , because this activity required a presence outside the monastery, which was sometimes difficult to reconcile with the monastic way of life. A longer term of office was also advantageous for a pastor, while the rule of the order provided for a more frequent change in the leading offices. At all of their monastery churches, the Franciscans looked after a group of the Third Order , in some places even in places without a Franciscan monastery. There were also a number of brotherhoods . The Third Order had gained momentum since Pope Pius IX. 1872 had become tertiary itself and promoted him particularly. In 1914 the number of members of the Third Order looked after by Saxonia was around 60,000, in 1925 around 45,000 members in 373 third-order congregations. Saxonia carried out pastoral care at several pilgrimage sites : the great Marian pilgrimages in Hardenberg-Neviges with around 100,000 pilgrims in 1913, Moresnet (85,000) and Werl (80,000) as well as some smaller ones such as the Apollinaris pilgrimage in Remagen, the Heilig-Kreuz-Pilgrimage in Hülfensberg and on the Kreuzberg in Bonn, the Marian pilgrimages in Wiedenbrück and Castel Sant'Elia and the St. Anna pilgrimage on the Annaberg in Upper Silesia.

The holding of retreats became more important. In 1908 the province opened its first own “model retreat house” in Werl, the St. Francis House; By 1914, 13,886 people had taken part in 200 courses that were designed as “class retreats” for recruits, workers, farmers, high school students, sextons, teachers, academics and other professional groups. In the 1920s, retreat houses were added in Marienthal in the Westerwald and in Ohrbeck (1926), which in 1971 became the home folk high school "Haus Ohrbeck" in Georgsmarienhütte .

From the middle of the 19th century a new task arose for the province - one of its main tasks - which was significant until the second half of the 20th century and which gave the province a lasting response from the ecclesiastical public: the popular missions . The Franciscans adopted the methods of the Jesuits, Lazarists and Redemptorists . By the 1870s, over 600 of them had taken place. Popular missions lasted eight or fourteen days and were usually carried out by three or four priests who gave three sermons a day. Other Franciscans often joined the confessional times. Around 1920 25 to 30 Fathers of Saxonia were active as people's missionaries; In 1922 alone, 134 popular missions were held. At the beginning of the 1950s, Saxonia also took part in missions for displaced persons in the north German diaspora with the help of band wagons . After the Second World War, however, the people's missions movement steadily declined and came to a complete standstill in the 1970s, despite the testing of new forms. In 1962 the province still had 11 people's missionaries, in 1974 two.

At the turn of the 20th century, the study of philosophy and theology for the young brothers was spread over several monasteries in the province, so that a single convent would not be economically overwhelmed by a large number of students who had to be fed by scheduling food . For the clergy, this meant frequent changes of residence. The study conventions were Dorsten, Wiedenbrück, Düsseldorf, Werl (1888–1900), Paderborn, Bleyerheide (1879–1902), Aachen (1893–1903) and Warendorf (until 1896). The general statutes of the order of 1897 required the Abitur as a prerequisite and a streamlining of the study of the order. From 1903 onwards, Saxonia concentrated the four-semester philosophy course and two semesters theology in the monastery in Dorsten, which received a new building for this purpose and began in 1903 with 38 clerical students. Then the clergy made their solemn profession , and another five semesters of theology followed in Paderborn, during which the clergy received the minor ordinations , the diaconate ordination and, before the last semester, the priestly ordination . Dorsten and Paderborn had a sufficiently large termination area for this.

92 members of the province were killed in the First World War. Three convents (Paderborn, Düsseldorf and Wiedenbrück) housed hospitals. Six priests were appointed as field chaplains. The reintegration of military service Franciscans into the discipline of obedience and dealing with seriously wounded confreres was a topic in the deliberations of the provincial leadership; they even thought of persuading wounded brothers to resign if they were no longer fit for work.

From 1918 a provincial newspaper with the title "Mitteilungen aus der Provinz" published information about the work of Saxonia , which appeared from 1920 to 1996 as "Vita Seraphica"; A provincial circular to all members of the provincial military service, which appeared from 1914 and was replaced by 14 episodes of a “small war newspaper”, can be regarded as a forerunner. The magazine “Antonius-Bote” increased its circulation between 1907 and 1915 from 4,000 to 45,000 copies. There was also a quarterly publication “Church and Pulpit. Leaves for Homiletic Science ”. A magazine for the tertiary was called "Franziskus -immen". In 1922 the province even founded its own printing company in Werl, the "Franziskus-Druckerei GmbH", which in 1949 became the " Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag GmbH ". In the study house in Dorsten, teaching could start again at the beginning of 1919; about twelve brothers studied philosophy, about nine theology.

At the provincial chapter in August 1918 it was discussed for the first time whether it was possible to deviate from the moneyless way of life required by the rule of the order, since it was almost impossible to carry out in everyday life.

On April 17, 1929, several monasteries split off from Saxonia and the Cologne Franciscan Province was revived by the Three Kings after there had been "tensions" between the Westphalian and Rhenish parts of Saxonia. The Colonia took the left bank and located in the Rhineland rechtsrheinischen monasteries of Saxonia : Hardenberg-Neviges, Dusseldorf, Remagen, Aachen, Moresnet, Mönchengladbach, Bonn, Cologne, Marienthal, Ehrenstein, food, St. Thomas, Euskirchen, Mörmter, Saarbrucken, Hermeskeil and exates. The re-established Cologne Province also sent 17 members to the Saxonia mission in China. The provincial office in Düsseldorf was transferred to Colonia , while Saxonia moved its provincial office to the Werl monastery , where it remained until 1998 and then moved to Hanover.

Period of National Socialism and World War II

Elpidius Markötter, † 1942 in Dachau concentration camp

Memorial plaque for Kilian Kirchhoff at the monastery in Rietberg

The church historian Gerhard Lindemann judges the time of National Socialism : “With a position on National Socialism that was by no means uniform, Saxonia was hardly equipped for the challenges that 1933 and the time afterwards brought with it. In addition to cautious criticism, the religious also took an active part in party events, but most held back with positive or negative statements. ”As a counter-model to the Nazi understanding of the state, the Franciscans did not predominantly consider parliamentary democracy, but“ a professionally organized social order ”; Heroism and determination were considered worth taking over from the new zeitgeist. Interferences and attacks by the regime against the monasteries in the currency and morality processes increasingly restricted the work of the Franciscans, even though Saxonia was less affected by the morality processes than other orders. There were criminal charges, speaking bans, collection bans and tightened controls on pilgrimages and retreats as well as the work of third orders. Former Provincial Minister Ephrem Ricking was arrested and sentenced for bringing friars at risk to Holland. The college in St. Ludwig lost the right to take the Abitur in 1938 , so that upper school students had to switch to grammar schools in Germany, where they were downgraded one class. St. Ludwig was closed in 1940 and reopened in 1951. A lower-level college opened in Warendorf in 1932 also had to close between 1939 and 1947. In some places the Franciscans refrained from wearing the habit outside the monastery because they were exposed to hostility on the street as a result of Nazi propaganda. Until the Second World War, the provincial leadership tried to recommend itself to the state by expressing national loyalty, for example by supporting remilitarization, taking part in gas protection exercises and taking part in the Reich Labor Service. In pastoral care, the Franciscans devoted themselves to consolidating the Catholic milieu and spiritual strengthening through sermons, large processions and the valorisation of various forms of popular piety.

When the Second World War broke out, the province offered the ecclesiastical and state authorities some "members of our religious order who had been tried and tested in the World War as divisional pastors"; that “at least one or the other can go out with the fighting troops as a pastor”, said Autbert Stroick , who was entrusted with the talks , “for us it is a duty of honor in our vocation like the fatherland” Stroick had participated as an officer in the First World War. There were voices in the province who saw the discipline and order required by the military as beneficial for the young religious. During the war, premises in several monasteries were confiscated by the Wehrmacht or the Gestapo and used as a medical department or barracks, for example in Wiedenbrück from 1939 to 1945. The admission of novices was restricted and largely prohibited from 1940. The schools in Vlodrop and Warendorf were closed in 1940, exercises and pilgrimages to Werl and Wiedenbrück were banned in 1941. Several Fathers were arrested and interned by the National Socialists for their sermons . Elpidius Markötter died in 1942 in the Dachau concentration camp , Kilian Kirchhoff was sentenced to death and beheaded by Roland Freisler in 1944 , Gandulf Korte died in custody in Bochum in a bomb attack. The lay brother Wolfgang Rosenbaum was killed as a Jew. Alkuin Gaßmann survived three years imprisonment in the Dachau concentration camp. Towards the end of the war, several churches and convents were destroyed in bomb attacks.

Development since the Second World War

In many places the post-war years were characterized by reconstruction. The provincial study house was in Warendorf from 1945 to 1951 because the study monasteries Dorsten and Paderborn had been destroyed. In 1951 the theology studies returned to Paderborn, the philosophy studies moved to a new monastery in Münster in 1963. The integration of the war returnees was a priority of the provincial leadership; The loosening of the rule of the order due to the war was lifted. The pilgrimages on the Hülfensberg, the Kerbschen Berg near Dingelstädt, in Wiedenbrück and Werl were resumed as early as 1945. New monasteries were founded in Wadersloh (1951) and Hamburg (1958), inquiries from other places (Vechta, Bielefeld and Bremen) could not be fulfilled because of “lack of strength”. In the Federal Republic of Germany the province profited from the economic miracle, so that the vow of poverty became a new challenge. The province recognized special pastoral tasks in addition to pastoral care, nurses 'and hospital pastoral care in workers' pastoral care and displaced pastoral care.

The college in St. Ludwig was reopened in 1951; In the 1969/70 school year 19 teachers (five of them as prefects) and 25 brothers worked at the college. In 1976 the provincial chapter decided to give up St. Ludwig and to work in Germany instead. From 1977 to 1979 the transition to the “ Ursulaschule ” in Osnabrück took place step by step , which the Ursulines handed over to the Osnabrück diocese in 1978 . The Saxonia took over the school board and set nine teachers; The school library, scientific equipment and school furniture were given to the Ursula School by St. Ludwig. The Province withdrew from the school in 2005 after failing to motivate enough younger members of the Province for “the school as a place of Franciscan evangelization”. The province had a second grammar school from 1951 to 1989 in a previous country school home of the school brothers in Wadersloh ; it emerged from the lower school in Warendorf and in 1961 was recognized as an old-language grammar school. In 1962 the province built a new school building, and in 1970 girls started taking in girls. In 1989, Saxonia handed over the sponsorship to the "Schulverein Gymnasium Johanneum Wadersloh" and in 1991 dissolved the monastery in Wadersloh. Remedial courses and boarding schools in the province finally existed from 1945 to 1959 in Attendorn and from 1959 to 1975 in Dorsten.

After the division of Germany, some conventions were in the Soviet zone of occupation or the German Democratic Republic , most of them in the British zone of occupation or the Federal Republic of Germany . In July 1949 the province introduced the office of a "quasi-delegate" for the GDR area, who performed the duties of provincial minister for the monasteries located there. The consolidation of the inner-German border from 1961 made communication between the eastern and western parts of the province even more difficult. In addition, Silesia was also active in the territory of the GDR , whose motherland on the other side of the new Polish border on the Oder and Neisse was also more difficult to reach. Of the 50 Franciscans in the GDR, 19 belonged to Saxonia and 31 to Silesia in 1970 . In 1955 the two provinces founded a joint novitiate in Dingelstädt. On February 7, 1973, the "Federation of Franciscans in the GDR" was jointly established with the status of a custody of Saxonia . The houses of Silesia located in the Federal Republic of Germany (Ottbergen, Hannover-Kleefeld, Hildesheim, West Berlin) formed the “Silesian Custody of Saint Hedwig” from 1980 and were completely incorporated on April 24, 1986 at the provincial chapter of Saxonia in Werl the Saxonia incorporated, for the monasteries in Halberstadt, Hülfensberg, Dingelstädt, Halle (Saale) and Berlin-Pankow this happened on January 1, 1992.

From 1968 onwards, Saxonia participated in the joint religious studies of the German Franciscan provinces, the Viennese and Swiss Franciscan provinces and the Rhenish-Westphalian Capuchin Province. Münster became the location of the philosophical studies, the theological studies were in Munich . From 1971 onwards the inter-provincial studies in Münster developed under the sponsorship of the Cologne, Silesian and Saxon Franciscan provinces with the Rhenish-Westphalian Capuchin Province, the Philosophical-Theological University of Münster . Another inter-provincial project was the mission center of the Franciscans , which began its work in 1969 in Bonn-Bad Godesberg and which was joined by 20 Franciscan provinces in Europe and other parts of the world over the next few years. The Saxonia maintained high schools in Wadersloh (until 1991).

The Second Vatican Council brought about changes in community life and religious rituals, in the liturgy and in pastoral methods, which also led to tension in the province: “Many forms of life that had been taken for granted up to then were suddenly questioned and changed. What seemed like a liberation for many younger members inevitably had to appear in the eyes of the older ones as a betrayal of their vocation and their life story. ”A new type of monastery (“ experiments ”) in the style of a small fraternity in rental apartments was first launched in Dortmund in 1968 -Scharnhorst, where the brothers were active in the pastoral care of a new building area and in supraregional youth work. In 1985 three brothers moved into an apartment in a homeless community in Herne. Here a process of rapid changes in locations was heralded, which is not alien to the original Franciscan way of life.

At the end of 1962 the province had 507 members (255 fathers, 170 lay brothers, 65 novices and brothers with temporary profession) in 22 branches in the dioceses of Essen, Münster, Paderborn and Osnabrück as well as in Italy (Castel Sant'Elia) and the Netherlands (Kolleg St . Ludwig in Vlodrop). At the end of 1975 the Saxon province had 407 members and at the end of 1997 219 members: 160 priests, 2 candidates for priesthood, 1 permanent deacon and 50 lay brothers with perpetual profession as well as 5 candidates for priesthood with temporary profession and 1 novice. In the 1990s, numerous monasteries were abandoned, but there were also new foundations, around 1998 for a few years in Neubrandenburg and from 2004 in Waren (Müritz) . In 2004 there were 159 brothers in Germany in 18 houses of the province, plus 26 brothers in Africa, Japan, the Holy Land and Brazil.

In 2002 the German Franciscan provinces decided to intensify their cooperation and put it on a new basis. Of its 450 perpetually professed members, only a third were under 60 years of age. A survey of the provincial members of all provinces brought the result for Saxonia that of 121 participating brothers of Saxonia 120 advocated a merger of the four provinces. The provincial chapter of February 27, 2007 unanimously agreed "for a unification of the four German Franciscan provinces under a management structure and taking into account the regions in 2010". The merger took place on July 1, 2010. The Provincial of Saxonia , Norbert Plogmann, was Provincial of the new "German Franciscan Province of St. Elisabeth of Thuringia" until he died in 2012.

Provincial offices in 2010

In 2010 there were mainly monasteries in Westphalia , individual monasteries in the northern and eastern federal states and in Berlin.

• Berlin-Pankow (since 1921)
• Berlin-Wilmersdorf (there since 1986)
• Dortmund (since 1895)
• Dorsten (since 1488 with interruptions)
• Halberstadt (1223-1814, since 1920)
• Halle (Saale) (since 1923)
• Hamburg (since 1958)
• Hanover (1928–2010, from 1998 to 2010 provincial office)
• Hülfensberg (since 1860)
• Mills (since 1908)
• Ohrbeck (Georgsmarienhütte, since 1918)
• Ottbergen (1868–2012)
• Paderborn (1232 until the Reformation, since 1658 with interruption in the Kulturkampf )
• Waren / Müritz (since 2004)
• Werl (since 1848, until 1998 provincial office)
• Wiedenbrück (since 1677, with a break in the Kulturkampf)

Well-known provincial ministers and provincial vicars

1230-1517

Simon of England (appointed by the General Chapter on May 26, 1230, who died before taking office on June 14, 1230) John of England (1231-1232, appointed 1230) Johannes Piano del Carpini (1232-1239) Konrad von Braunschweig (also called Konrad von Sachsen, Holtnicker; 1247–1262, 1272–1279; previously lecturer in Hildesheim: † 1279 on the way to the General Chapter in Bologna) ... Thomas von Kyritz (1307-1316; previously lecturer in Erfurt) Heinrich von Beichlingen (1316–1322; previously lecturer in Lübeck) ... Johannes von Chemnitz (1394-1366) Johannes von Minden (1396–1405 ?; † 1413 in Lüneburg) Jacob von Belgern (1405 ?, appointed by Pope Innocent VII ) Hermann Schilling (? - ?; officiated 1416) Theodor Struve (1421, dies eleven days after his election)

Friedrich Macharim (1421-1427) Matthias Döring (1427–1461, from 1443 to 1449 also general minister of a secession of the order loyal to the antipope Felix V ) Nikolaus Lackmann (1461–1479, † 1479; previously head of the religious studies in Erfurt) Eberhard Hillemann (1479–1490; matriculated in Rostock 1437) Ludwig von Segen (1490–1498, † 1508; since 1502 auxiliary bishop in Hildesheim) Johann Heymstede (1498–1504; 1465–1469 matriculated in Rostock, † 1504) Johannes Weygnant of Bamberg (1504–1507) Ludwig Henning (1507–1515) Hermann Nedewolt (1515-1518; † 1518) Benedikt von Löwenberg (1518–1521; Saxonia S. Johannis Baptistae ) Gerardus Funk (Gerhard Funck) (1520–1524; Saxonia S. Johannis Baptistae ) Eberhard Runge (1524–1527; Saxonia S. Johannis Baptistae ) Andreas Schunemann (1527–; Saxonia S. Johannis Baptistae )

Provincial Vicars of the Observants

The vicars of the observants were each elected for three years. The office existed in the Saxon province from 1449 to 1517:

Hermann Koenigsberg 1449–1451 Henning Sele 1452-1455 John of Brandenburg (1455-1458) Henning Sele 1458-1461 Emerich von Kemel (1461) -1465 Henning Sele 1465-1468 Emerich von Kemel 1468–1471 Henning Sele 1471– (1474) John of Brandenburg (1474–1477) Albert Laffarde 1477-1480 Heinrich Kannengießer 1480–1482 Heinrich Voss 1482–1485

Friedrich Beyer (1485–1488) Heinrich Kannengießer 1488–1491 Heinrich Voss 1491–1494 Heinrich Kone / Küne 1494–1497 Heinrich Kannengießer 1497–1499 Friedrich Beyer 1499– (1500) Michel Beyer (1500) -1503 Heinrich Kone / Küne 1503–1506 Petrus Zille 1506–1509 Heinrich Kone / Küne 1509–1512 Heinrich Marquardi 1512-1515 Johannes Amberg 1515-1517

Saxonia S. Crucis from 1517

Johannes Datoris (1517) Johannes Amberg (1517-1518) Andreas Grone (1520–1523) Heinrich Marquardt (1523-1525; † 1525) Andreas Grone (second term around 1526) Suederus Vastmar (? - 1529) Augustin von Alveldt (1529–1532; † 1535) Suederus Vastmar (1532-1535; † 1535) Kaspar Sager (1535–1538; † before 1545) Johannes Datoris (1538–1545) Heinrich Helm (1545–1551; † 1560; came from Colonia ) Ulrich Boller (1551–1554) Thomas Regius (1554–1556)

Ludolf Nortzel (1556–1559) Ludolf Giffhern (1559–1562) Ludolf Nortzel (1562–1567) Theodorich (Theodor) Gerardi (1567–1583 came from Colonia ) Peter of Utrecht (provincial commissioner, 1584–1596 †) 1596–1603 vacant? Johannes Tetteborn (Joannis Terebon) (provincial commissioner from 1603 to 1626 †) Heinrich Lotze (provincial commissioner since 1627, provincial 1628–1631) ... Fabian Decheringk (1771–1774) ... Christian Claes (1783–1786, 1792–1795 †) Winand Wessels (1786–1789)

1789-2010

Marcellinus Molkenbuhr (1789–1792, 1798–1801, 1807–1810) Jukundian Hellweg (1795–1798) Firminus Flören (1801–1804, 1810–1822 †) Josef Schmedding (1804–1808, 1822–1828 as acting provincial vicar †) Xaver Drolshagen (1829–1843 †) Florian Bierdrager (1843–1847 †) Alardus Bartscher (1849-1852, acting provincial vicar since 1847) Xaverius Kaufmann (1852–1855) Gregor Janknecht (1855–1858, 1858–1861, 1867–1870, 1870–1879, 1888–1891) Othmar Maasmann (1861–1864, 1864–1867, 1879–1885, 1891–1894) Irenäus Bierbaum (1885–1888, 1897–1900) Basilius Pfannenschmid (1894–1897, resigned for health reasons) Sylvester Winkes (1897, incumbent provincial vicar) Josef Kaufmann (1900–1903, then General Definitor in Rome until 1909)

Osmund Laumann (1903, incumbent provincial vicar) Wenzeslaus Straussfeld (1903–1906, 1906–1909) Richard Breisig (1909–1912, 1912–1915) Beda Kleinschmidt (1915–1918, 1918–1919, has suspended the post for health reasons) Lukas Koch (Provincial Vicar, acting as representative, 1919–1921) Raymund Dreiling (1921-1924, 1924-1927) Ephrem Ricking (1927-1930, 1930-1933) Meinrad Vonderheide (1933–1936, 1936–1939) Elisäus (Eliseus) Füller (1939–1942, 1942–1946, 1946–1949) Dietmar Westemeyer (1949–1952, 1952–1955, 1961–1967) Bernold Kuhlmann (1955–1961) Constantin Pohlmann (1967–1973) Hermann Schalück (1973–1979, 1979–1983; 1991–1997 Minister General of the Order) Heribert Arens (1983–1989, 1995–2001) Theo Maschke (1989–1995) Norbert Plogmann (2001-2010, then Provincial of the German Franciscan Province until † 2012)

Known members

Jordan by Giano Johannes Zatow Johannes Bremer (student around 1420, lecturer around 1455) Nikolaus Bucholt Friedrich Myconius Lambrecht Slagghert Heinrich Never Damascus sky house Johann Christoph Bernsmeyer Paschal's burr Hugo Linderath Aloys Lauer Dionysius Schuler Patricius Schlager Leonhard Lemmens Jordan May Wenceslaus Straussfeld Elpidius white goose Dionysius Ortsiefer

Ferdinand Doelle Adalbert Schmücker Cyrillus Jarre Romanus fear Squidward Soiron Siegfried Schneider Autbert Stroick Elpidius Markötter , † June 28, 1942 in Dachau concentration camp Wolfgang Rosenbaum , † September 30, 1942 in Auschwitz concentration camp because of Jewish origin Kilian Kirchhoff , murdered by the National Socialists on April 24, 1944 Lothar Hardick Georg Langemeyer Theofried builder Josef Schulte

Magazines and series

Published from 1949 by Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag

• Franciscan Studies (1914–1994; previously from 1909: Contributions to the history of the Saxon Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross )
• Antonius-Bote (1906–1939)
• Francis votes (publication organ of the Third Order , 1917–1939)
• Vita Seraphica (1920–1996, 1997–1998 untitled , from 1998 road signs )
• Franciscan Research (founded in 1935)
• Brother Jordan's Way (from 1954)
• Franciscan Sources
• Books of Franciscan Spirituality
• Science and wisdom. Franciscan studies in theology, philosophy and history (since 1994, jointly published by the Cologne and Saxon Franciscan provinces)

literature

• Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History: Chronological outline of the history of the Saxon Franciscan provinces from their beginnings to the present. Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, Werl 1999, ISBN 3-87163-240-6 .
• Dieter Berg (Ed.): Management and Minoritas. Life pictures of the Saxon Franciscan provincials from the 13th to the 20th century. ( Saxonia Franciscana supplements , supplement 1.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2003, ISBN 3-7666-2087-8 .
• Ferdinand Doelle : The Martinian reform movement in the Saxon Franciscan province (Central and Northeast Germany) in the 15th and 16th centuries. Munster 1921.
• Ferdinand Doelle: The observance movement in the Saxon Franciscan province up to the beginning of the religious split: with consideration of the Martinian reform in Electoral Saxony. Munster 1918.
• Lothar Hardick: East Westphalia in the plan structure of the Saxon Franciscan Province. In: Westphalian magazine. 110 (1960), pp. 305–328, now also in: Dieter Berg (Ed.): Spiritualität und Geschichte. Ceremony for Lothar Hardick OFM on his 80th birthday. , Werl 1993, ISBN 3-87163-195-7 , pp. 163-181.
• Willibald Kullmann: The Saxon Franciscan Province, a tabular guide to its history. Düsseldorf 1927.
• Ralf Michael Nickel: Between city, territory and church: Franziskus' sons in Westphalia up to the beginning of the Thirty Years War. (Philosophical dissertation, Faculty for History of the Ruhr University Bochum ) Bochum 2007 ( [1] ).
• Sächsische Franziskanerprovinz (Hrsg.): History of the Saxon Franciscan Province from its foundation to the beginning of the 21st century.
  • Vol. 1: Volker Honemann (Ed.): From the beginnings to the Reformation. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2015, ISBN 978-3-506-76989-3 (editor and register: Gunhild Roth).
  • Vol. 3: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From the Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn-Munich-Vienna-Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-76991-6 .
  • Vol. 4: Giancarlo Collet , Johannes Meier (Ed.): Missions. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn-Munich-Vienna-Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-506-76992-3 (editor and register: Gunhild Roth).
  • Vol. 5: Roland Pieper (Ed.): Art: from the beginnings to the present. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn-Munich-Vienna-Zurich 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-76993-0 .
• Patricius Schlager OFM: Book of the Dead of the Saxon Franciscan Order Province of the Holy Cross. Schwann-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1915.
• Patricius Schlager OFM: Directory of the monasteries of the Saxon Franciscan provinces. In: Franciscan Studies. Vol. 1 (1914), pp. 230-242.
• Herbert Schneider : The Franciscans in the German-speaking area. Life u. Aims. Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, Werl / Westphalia 1985.

Web links

• Franciscan Order (Ordo Fratrum Minorum)
• German Franciscan Province of St. Elisabeth

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bernd Schmies and Volker Honemann: The Franciscan Province of Saxonia from its beginnings to 1517: basic features and lines of development. In: Volker Honemann (Ed.): From the beginnings to the Reformation. Paderborn 2015, pp. 21–44, here p. 26.
2. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307–334, here p. 315.
3. ↑ Willibald Kullmann: The Saxon Franciscan Province, a tabular guide to its history. Düsseldorf 1927, pp. 9, 14-20.
   Bernd Schmies, Volker Honemann: The Franciscan Province of Saxonia from its beginnings to 1517: basic features and lines of development. In: Volker Honemann (Ed.): From the beginnings to the Reformation. Paderborn 2015, pp. 21–44, here pp. 29–33.
4. ↑ Dieter Berg: Franciscan Historiography and the Change in the Franciscan Self-Image. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, pp. 127-210, here pp. 169f.
5. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Chronological outline of the history of the Saxon Franciscan provinces from their beginnings to the present. Werl 1999, pp. 59, 61, 63, 67.
6. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Chronological outline of the history of the Saxon Franciscan provinces from their beginnings to the present. Werl 1999, pp. 59, 61, 63, 67.
7. ↑ cf. About the document book of the Saxon Franciscan provinces
8. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 189.
9. ^ Lothar Hardick: East Westphalia in the plan structure of the Saxon Franciscan Province. In: Westphalian magazine . 110: 305-328 (1960).
   Lothar Hardick: Spatial planning of Saxonia before secularization. In: Vita Seraphica. 40/41 (1959/60), pp. 85-92.
   Bernd Schmies: Structure and organization of the Saxon Franciscan Province and its Custody of Thuringia from the beginning to the Reformation. In: Thomas T. Müller, Bernd Schmies, Christian Loefke (Eds.): For God and the World. Franciscans in Thuringia. Text and catalog volume for the exhibition in the Mühlhausen museums from March 29 to October 31, 2008. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-506-76514-7 , pp. 38–49, here P. 41.
10. ↑ Bernd Schmies and Volker Honemann: The Franciscan Province of Saxonia from its beginnings to 1517: basic features and lines of development. In: Volker Honemann (Ed.): From the beginnings to the Reformation. Paderborn 2015, pp. 21–44, here pp. 32–37.
11. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Chronological outline of the history of the Saxon Franciscan provinces from their beginnings to the present. Werl 1999, p. 133, 139.
    Jana Bretschneider: Sermon, professorship and provincial leadership. Function and structure of the Franciscan education system in medieval Thuringia. In: Volker Honemann (Ed.): From the beginnings to the Reformation (= history of the Saxon Franciscan Province from its foundation to the beginning of the 21st century , vol. 1). Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2015, ISBN 978-3-506-76989-3 , pp. 325–339, here pp. 325–334.
12. ↑ Sandra Groß: Rostock Monastery S. Katharina (Ordo Fratrum Minorum / Franziskaner). In: Wolfgang Huschner u. a .: Mecklenburg monastery book. Volume II., Rostock 2016, pp. 873-898, here pp. 875, 879.
13. ^ Dieter Berg: The Franciscans in Westphalia. In: ders .: Poverty and History. Studies on the history of the mendicant orders in the High and Late Middle Ages. (= Saxonia Franciscana Volume 11.) Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-2074-6 , pp. 307-334, here p. 320.
14. ↑ Manfred Schulze : Princes and Reformation: spiritual reform policy of secular princes before the Reformation (late Middle Ages and Reformation. New series 2). Tübingen 1991, p. 179; see. Bernhard Neidiger: The Martian Constitutions of 1430 as a reform program of the Franciscan conventuals. A contribution to the history of the Cologne Minorite Monastery and the Cologne Order Province in the 15th century. In: Journal for Church History (ZKG) 95 (1984), pp. 337–381.
15. ↑ Wolfgang Huschner , Heiko Schäfer: Wismar: Holy Cross Monastery (Ordo Fratrum Minorum / Franziskaner). In: Wolfgang Huschner, Ernst Münch , Cornelia Neustadt, Wolfgang Eric Wagner: Mecklenburg monastery book. Handbook of the monasteries, monasteries, coming and priories (10th / 11th - 16th centuries). Volume II., Rostock 2016, ISBN 978-3-356-01514-0 , pp. 1203-1228, here p. 1214.
16. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 155, 157ff., 173, 177, p. 181 using the example of the founding of the monastery in Lemgo.
17. ^ Ingo Ulpts: The mendicant orders in Mecklenburg. Werl 1995, p. 317, 320 f.
18. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 229, 233, 237.
19. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 251.
20. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 249.
21. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 255, 257.
22. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 253, 255, 259.
23. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 261, 263, 269, 273.
24. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 329, 335, 343.
25. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 331, 343, 345, 347, 348, 355.
26. ^ Lothar Hardick: East Westphalia in the plan structure of the Saxon Franciscan Province. In: Westfälische Zeitschrift 110 (1960), pp. 305–328.
    Lothar Hardick: Spatial planning of Saxonia before secularization. In: Vita Seraphica 40/41 (1959/60), pp. 85-92.
27. ↑ Franz Wilhelm Woker: History of the North German Franciscan Missions of the Saxon Order Province of St. Cross. A contribution to the church history of northern Germany after the Reformation. Freiburg 1880, p. 661.
28. ↑ Jürgen Werinhard Einhorn OFM: Education and training, science, school and pastoral care from the Kulturkampf to the present. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 633–786, here p. 725 f.
29. ↑ Berthold Bockholt: The Order of St. Francis in Munster. Münster 1917, p. 41.
    Julius Reinhold: The philosophical-theological in-house study of the Saxon Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross from 1627 to approx. 1810. In: Vita Seraphica 19 (1938) p. 57–74, here p. 63.
30. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 387, 443.
31. ^ Karl Suso Frank : Recollects . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 8 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1999, Sp. 1025 f .
32. ^ Didakus Falke: Antonianum Monastery and Gymnasium of the Franciscans in Geseke. A contribution to the history of schools in modern times. Münster 1915 ( Franciscan Studies , Supplement 1), p. 48f.
    Willibald Kullmann: The Saxon Franciscan Province, a tabular guide to its history. Düsseldorf 1927, p. 16.
    Julius Reinhold: The philosophical-theological in-house study of the Saxon Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross from 1627 to approx. 1810. In: Vita Seraphica 19 (1938) pp. 57–74, 160–169, 229–250 , 333-341, here p. 339 f.
33. ^ Eduard Hegel : History of the Catholic theological faculty in Münster 1773–1964. 1st chapter. Münster 1966, p. 55.
    Willibald Kullmann: The Saxon Franciscan Province, a tabular guide to its history. Düsseldorf 1927, p. 21.
    Autbert Groeteken: The professors from the Saxon province at the old University of Münster. In: Contributions to the history of the Saxon Franciscan Province. Düsseldorf 1908, p. 119 ff.
34. ^ Max Braubach : The first Bonn university. Maxische Akademie and Electoral University 1774/77 to 1798. Bonn 1966, p. 197 ff.
35. ^ Joseph Freisen: The University of Paderborn. Part 1: Sources and treatises from 1614–1808. Paderborn 1898, p. 81.
36. ^ Didakus Falke: Antonianum Monastery and Gymnasium of the Franciscans in Geseke. A contribution to the history of schools in modern times. Münster 1915 ( Franziskanische Studien , supplement 1), p. 47.
    Willibald Kullmann: The Saxon Franciscan Province, a tabular guide to its history. Düsseldorf 1927, p. 21f.
    Ludwig Schmitz-Kallenberg : Monasticon Westfaliae. Munster 1909.
37. ↑ Benedikt Peters: Book of the Dead of the Saxon Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross, revised and annotated after the first edition by Father Patricius Schlager OFM. Second volume: Evidence. Werl 1948, p. 62, with reference to: Berthold Bockholt: Die Orden des hl. Francis in Munster. Münster 1917, p. 27.
    Franz-Josef Esser: The Saxon Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross on the eve of secularization and its history in the first half of the 19th century. (Unpublished manuscript) o. O. 1973, p. 57 with reference to: Elisabeth Schumacher: The Cologne Westphalia in the Age of Enlightenment. Bonn (phil. Dissertation) 1952.
38. ↑ Jürgen Werinhard Einhorn OFM: Education and training, science, school and pastoral care from the Kulturkampf to the present. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 633–786, here p. 726.
    Eugen Schatten: The Franziskanergymnasien in the area of ​​the Saxon order province until their abolition in the 19th century. In: Franziskanische Studien 13 (1926), pp. 366–384, here p. 379.
39. ^ Didakus Falke: Monastery and grammar school Mariano-Nepomucenianum of the Franciscans in Rietberg. A contribution to the history of schools in modern times. Rietberg 1920, pp. 115-119; Didakus Falke: Monastery and grammar school Antonianum of the Franciscans in Geseke . Aschendorff, Münster 1915 ( digitized version), pp. 115–119.
40. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 413.
41. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 447.
42. ^ Willibald Kullmann: Anton Joseph Binterims parish bankruptcy. A contribution to the history of the study system of the Cologne Franciscan Province in the Enlightenment period. In: Franziskanische Studien 27 (1940), pp. 1–21, here p. 3 note 6;
    oN (Willibald Kullmann): Our dead, Part I. Düsseldorf 1941 (Book of the Dead of the Cologne Franciscan Province), pp. XVII – XX.
43. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 443, 447.
44. ↑ Autbert Groeteken: Nomina Fraciscanorum Exsulum from anno 1794 ad annum 1796. In: Yearbook of the Saxon Franciscan Province of Holy Cross. Published by the Provinzialat, Düsseldorf 1906f.
    Autbert Groeteken: The French emigrants in the Saxon province. In: Contributions to the history of the Saxon Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross. Vol. I. Ed. Vom Provinzialat, Düsseldorf 1908, p. 121.
45. ↑ Franz-Josef Esser: The Saxon Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross on the eve of secularization and its history in the first half of the 19th century. (Unpublished manuscript) cit. 1973, p. 81.
    Compendium Chronologicum Provinciae Saxoniae S. Crucis Ordinis fratrum minorum S. Francisci Recollectorum. Warendorf 1873, p. 66.
46. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 447, 453.
47. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 453, 455, 459, 463.
48. ↑ Franz-Josef Esser: The Saxon Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross on the eve of secularization and its history in the first half of the 19th century. (Unpublished manuscript) cit. 1973, p. 98.
    Compendium Chronologicum Provinciae Saxoniae S. Crucis Ordinis fratrum minorum S. Francisci Recollectorum. Warendorf 1873, p. 71.
49. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 445, 449
50. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 461 ff., 469.
51. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Chronological outline of the history of the Saxon Franciscan provinces from their beginnings to the present. Werl 1999, pp. 527, 535.
52. ↑ Hans-Georg Aschoff: From the Kulturkampf to the First World War. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 23–287, here p. 179.
53. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 469-473, 511.
54. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 477, 479, 481, 483.
55. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 492-503.
56. ↑ Hans-Georg Aschoff: From the Kulturkampf to the First World War. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 23–287, here p. 146.
57. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 492-503.
58. ↑ Hans-Georg Aschoff: From the Kulturkampf to the First World War. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 23–287, here pp. 55f.134f.139–143.
59. ↑ Jürgen Werinhard Einhorn OFM: Education and training, science, school and pastoral care from the Kulturkampf to the present. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 633-786, here p. 726 f.
    franziskaner.de, Großkrotzenburg , accessed on September 24, 2015.
    Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Chronological outline of the history of the Saxon Franciscan provinces from their beginnings to the present. Werl 1999, pp. 497, 517, 533 (on Harreveld).
60. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 479, 483, 491, 499.
61. ↑ Lothar Hardick OFM: For the centenary of the Order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in North America. In: Vita Seraphica. 39 (1958), pp. 226–232, now also in: Dieter Berg (Ed.): Spiritualität und Geschichte. Ceremony for Lothar Hardick OFM on his 80th birthday. Werl 1993, ISBN 3-87163-195-7 , pp. 157-161.
62. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 509,511, 517, 525, 587, 599, 603, 631 ( Franziskanermission, January 7, 2012 , accessed June 22, 2015).
63. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 509, 511, 513, 539.
64. ↑ Hans-Georg Aschoff : From the Kulturkampf to the First World War. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 23–287, here pp. 120–124.
65. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 529, 587.
66. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 529, 531, 537, 539, 547, 597, 625.
67. ↑ franziskanergymnasium-kreuzburg , accessed on September 24, 2015.
    Jürgen Werinhard Einhorn OFM: Education and training, science, school and pastoral work from the cultural war to the present. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 633–786, here p. 728.
68. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 505, 507, 509, 511, 533, 553, 617.
69. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 477, 479, 515.
70. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 507, 509, 511.
71. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 527.
72. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 513, 517, 525, 527, 531, 535
73. ^ Gerhard Lindemann : From the November Revolution to the Second Vatican Council. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 289–631, here p. 370.
74. ↑ Hans-Georg Aschoff: From the Kulturkampf to the First World War. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 23-287, here pp. 244 f., 263-273.
75. ↑ Hans-Georg Aschoff: From the Kulturkampf to the First World War. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 23–287, here pp. 238–243.
76. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 475.
    Hans-Georg Aschoff: From the Kulturkampf to the First World War. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 23–287, here pp. 223–238.
    Gerhard Lindemann: From the November Revolution to the Second Vatican Council. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 289-631, here pp. 331, 540 f., 908 f.
77. ↑ Hans-Georg Aschoff: From the Kulturkampf to the First World War. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 23–287, here p. 86f.
78. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Chronological outline of the history of the Saxon Franciscan provinces from their beginnings to the present. Werl 1999, pp. 541, 543.
79. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 531, 537, 539, 541, 543, 545, 547, 583.
80. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 543.
81. ↑ dombibliothek-koeln.de, There was never a lack of initiatives and ideas (75 years of Colonia) ( Memento of the original from 23 September 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Article in: Church newspaper for the Archdiocese of Cologne from September 24, 2004 , accessed on May 25, 2015. 
82. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 555, 641.
83. ^ Gerhard Lindemann: From the November Revolution to the Second Vatican Council. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 289–631, here p. 623.
84. ↑ ^{a b} Damian Bieger OFM: The Second World War and the German Franciscans. In: Franciscans. Magazine for Franciscan Culture and Way of Life , Summer 2020, p. 16ff, here p. 18.
85. ↑ Jürgen Werinhard Einhorn OFM: Education and training, science, school and pastoral care from the Kulturkampf to the present. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 633–786, here p. 730 ff.
86. ^ Gerhard Lindemann: From the November Revolution to the Second Vatican Council. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 289–631, here pp. 623 ff.
87. ↑ Autbert Stroick on September 17, 1939 by letter to the Army High Command , quoted in: Raymund Dreiling OFM: P. Dr. Autbert Stroick OFM. As a division pastor, died on June 5, 1940. 2nd edition. Verlag Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 1940, p. 13.
88. ^ Gerhard Lindemann: From the November Revolution to the Second Vatican Council. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 289–631, here p. 626.
    Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 565-569, 573.
89. ^ Gerhard Lindemann: From the November Revolution to the Second Vatican Council. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 289-631, here pp. 518 f., 559 f., 626-631.
90. ↑ Jürgen Werinhard Einhorn OFM: Education and training, science, school and pastoral care from the Kulturkampf to the present. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 633-786, here pp. 731, 735-739.
91. ^ Gerhard Lindemann: From the November Revolution to the Second Vatican Council. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 289–631, here p. 631.
92. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 605, 623.
    Joachim Schmiedl: From the Second Vatican Council to the beginning of the 21st century. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, p. 787-929, here p. 822 f.
93. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 575, 597, 605-609.
94. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 631.
95. ^ Joachim Schmiedl: From the Second Vatican Council to the beginning of the 21st century. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 787-929, here p. 884; see. Pp. 872 f., 877 f.
96. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 605.623.
    Joachim Schmiedl: From the Second Vatican Council to the beginning of the 21st century. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 787-929, here p. 927.
97. ^ Joachim Schmiedl: From the Second Vatican Council to the beginning of the 21st century. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 787-929, here p. 787.
98. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 613, 621, 639, 641.
99. ^ Joachim Schmiedl: From the Second Vatican Council to the beginning of the 21st century. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn u. a. 2010, pp. 787-929, here pp. 928 f.
100. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, pp. 771-778, also on the following.
101. ^ Ingo Ulpts: The mendicant orders in Mecklenburg. Werl 1995, p. 42 note 46 with reference to Jordan von Giano; Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Chronological outline of the history of the Saxon Franciscan provinces from their beginnings to the present. Werl 1999, p. 71.
102. ^ Ingo Ulpts: The mendicant orders in Mecklenburg. Werl 1995, p. 175.
103. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Chronological outline of the history of the Saxon Franciscan provinces from their beginnings to the present. Werl 1999, p. 141 (on Jakob von Belgern), p. 149 (on Hermann Schilling).
104. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 165.
105. ↑ Hille Mann & Heimstede: Ingo Ulpts: The mendicant orders in Mecklenburg. Werl 1995, p. 181.
106. ^ Ferdinand Doelle , The Provincial Vicars of the Saxon Province, in Franziskanische Studien 17, 58-82 (uncertain data in brackets).