Adolph Kolping

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Adolph Kolping

Adolph Kolping (* December 8, 1813 in Kerpen near Cologne ; † December 4, 1865 in Cologne) was a German Catholic priest who dealt in particular with the social issue , and the founder of the Kolping Society .

Life

Childhood and craft apprenticeship

Kolping's birthplace in Kerpen

Adolph Kolping was the fourth of five children of wage shepherd Peter Kolping († April 12, 1845) and his wife Anna Maria, née Zurheyden († April 4, 1833). He grew up in modest circumstances. From 1820 to 1826 he attended elementary school. At the age of 12, at the request of his parents, he first learned the shoemaking trade in Kerpen . Kolping described his childhood as happy despite the family poverty. After the apprenticeship and the journeyman's examination , Kolping worked from 1829 to 1832 as a shoemaker journeyman in Sindorf , Düren and Lechenich and then in one of the leading workshops in Cologne at the time . He turned down the offer to marry into this company and changed jobs.

Way to study

Kolping's house in Bonn

Kolping was appalled by the often inhumane living conditions and ways of life of most of the journeymen he met during his wanderings . An illness possibly caused by these circumstances forced him, at the age of 22, to temporarily give up his work as a craftsman. Almost two years later - at the age of almost 24 - he attended high school in order to then study and become a priest. Before Kolping entered the Marzellengymnasium in Cologne in autumn 1837 , he took lessons in Latin from the local pastors.

After only three and a half years, Kolping passed the Abitur; on April 3, 1841 he received the "Certificate of Maturity". He then studied theology in Munich (1841–1842) and Bonn (1842–1844) and from March 26, 1844 at the Archbishop's Clericalseminar in Cologne. In Munich, Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler , who later became Bishop of Mainz, became a college friend with whom he could discuss the social question . The fact that he was able to study without economic hardship was largely due to Marialen (Maria Helena) Meller (* April 16, 1809; † May 19, 1878), a daughter of the landowner whose sheep his father tended. Concerned for someone close to her, she had made a vow to support a theology student. But Kolping also received support from other benefactors.

Priest and "journeyman father"

Chaplain in Elberfeld

On April 13, 1845 he received in Cologne Minoritenkirche the priesthood and then was first in Elberfeld , now a suburb of Wuppertal , as a chaplain in the Laurentius parish and religion teacher at the real and Gewerbschule to Elberfeld appointed. He encountered the same social situation as when he was a journeyman in Cologne. For many young men, intellectual neglect and apathy were combined with deep poverty, slavish labor exploitation and general impoverishment to create an environment that gave little hope of a meaningful life. In June 1847 he was elected as the successor to the chaplain Steenartz, who had moved to Wermelskirchen , as the second president of the Catholic journeyman's association founded in 1846 by Johann Gregor Breuer (1820-1897), which provides its members with social support, education, conviviality and especially in the years of traveling away from home gave a religious hold. Kolping recognized the importance of the journeyman's association and endeavored to carry the idea beyond Elberfeld, which, in his opinion, was only possible from a larger city. He therefore asked Archbishop Johannes von Geissel for a job in Cologne.

Founder of the Cologne journeyman's association

Memorial plaque at the Nikolaikapelle in Soest
Commemorative plaque for the foundation of the journeyman's association in Salzburg

In 1849 Kolping returned to Cologne as cathedral vicar and founded the Cologne journeymen's association there on May 6th with seven journeymen in the Columba School; on January 1, 1850, the association already had 550 members. As in Cologne, journeyman's associations were quickly established in other cities; up to Kolping's death in 1865 there were 418 with 24,000 members. In the fall of 1850 Kolping merged the Elberfeld, Cologne and Düsseldorf associations to form the “Rhenish Gesellenbund”, which from 1851 was called the “Catholic Journeyman Association” in order to be open beyond the Rhenish borders. This union was the nucleus of today's international Kolping Society .

The association should give the wandering journeymen a support similar to that which Kolping believes only the family offers, and the journeyman's hospices initiated by him should be “a family home in which they can find their family, like-minded and equal friends, and with them live together with them in an intimate and friendly manner. ”The journeyman's houses were therefore not only a cozy hostel, but also a school that enabled the young craftsmen to educate themselves religiously, politically and professionally. They should also provide opportunities to socialize.

In addition, nurses were elected in the association who, according to the statutes, were obliged to visit a sick person who had been reported to them within 24 hours and to find out about the illness and its reason, and if necessary to get medical help and care for the sick person. In addition to this nursing, Kolping made himself available as a pastor for cholera sufferers. He refused to receive payment from the city of Cologne for this activity; the money was used for the journeyman's association.

Journeyman's House on Breite Strasse in Cologne

Kolping considered the journeyman's hospice to be indispensable and since 1851 tried to acquire a house for the Cologne journeyman's association. In a specially published brochure he asked for donations for the house in “begging articles for the benefit of the hospital”. On August 14, 1852, he bought a property with a large building and garden at Breite Straße 110 for 14,200 thalers in order to set up meeting rooms and a hospice for traveling companions. On May 8, 1853, the house could be moved into, which was not just a hostel but a kind of home school. 

Kolping as a publicist

Kolping Cross at Gut Ving near Wissersheim

Kolping was already writing poetry when he was a journeyman and was occasionally active as a journalist during his studies. For the years in Elberfeld, Kolping worked more and more as a writer and journalist in addition to his pastoral work . He wrote, among other things, for the "Rheinische Kirchenblatt", which appeared in Düsseldorf, was editor from 1850 and from 1852 to 1853 publisher of the "Catholic People's Calendar" and from 1854 to 1865 editor of the "Calendar for the Catholic People". From 1850 to 1854 he wrote for the "Rheinische Kirchenblatt" before founding the weekly newspaper "Rheinische Volksblätter", the first edition of which appeared on April 1, 1854 and which quickly became one of the most successful Catholic press organs of its time. In addition, Kolping worked as a freelancer for various newspapers and magazines until his death.

Kolping saw press work as an opportunity to highlight the grievances of the 19th century and, in particular, the economic as well as emotional distress of many people in order to alleviate them. Working as a publicist also gave him the economic security he needed for his life's work, the journeyman's association.

Last years of life

Kolping grave in the Minorite Church

Kolping suffered serious illnesses from his youth. Nonetheless, in 1858 he was elected general president of all 180 journeyman's associations that had existed up to that point and used all his strength to further spread the journeyman's association. To this end, he sometimes went on arduous journeys. In September 1861, however, he had to cancel his participation in the Katholikentag in Munich and the meeting of the journeyman's association presidents after his health had deteriorated threateningly. In May 1862, however, Kolping was allowed to travel to Rome and present his work to the Pope. In recognition of this, Pius IX gave him . a precious chasuble that is still preserved.

Kolping's health seemed to be stabilizing temporarily, but from the spring of 1865 he suffered from severe joint inflammation in his right forearm. He traveled again to advertise the journeyman's association: In September he went to Trier and attended the inauguration of the journeyman's house. After that, however, attacks of suffocation increased, from which he died four days before the age of 52 in the journeyman's house on Breite Strasse.

From 1862 Kolping was rector of the Minorite Church (Cologne) , where he was buried on April 30, 1866, according to his wishes. At first he was buried in the Melatenfriedhof .

Awards

Successor to Adolph Kolping in the office of General Praeses

Kolping monument by Johann Baptist Schreiner , erected in Cologne in 1903

beatification

On March 21, 1934, Karl Joseph Cardinal Schulte , Archbishop of Cologne, formally opened the process of beatification for Adolph Kolping.

On October 27, 1991 Kolping was beatified by Pope John Paul II . The Roman Catholic Church celebrates Adolph Kolping's day of remembrance on December 4th. Before that, Pope John Paul II visited the Minorite Church in Cologne on November 15, 1980. He prayed at Kolping's grave and formulated the sentence: “We need models like Adolph Kolping for today's church.” The canonization process is ongoing.

World Day of Prayer of the Kolping Society

The World Day of Prayer of the International Kolping Society on October 27 of each year commemorates the beatification of Adolph Kolping. On this day, the focus is always on the Kolping Society of a country, which can introduce itself and ask for a supporting prayer.

Bronze monument in Kerpen
Bust in the parish church of St. Josef (Reinhausen)
Postage stamp (1955) from the series Helpers to Mankind
Postage stamp (1965) on the
100th anniversary of Adolph Kolping's death

Kolping and Kerpen today

Kolping Museum

In 1963, on Kolping's 150th birthday, a museum was set up under the auspices of the Kolping Society in an outbuilding of the house that Wilhelm Kolping rebuilt while his brother was still alive around 1849 on the spot where Adolph Kolping's birthplace in Kerpen stood. It houses originals or contemporary documents and exhibits on the life, work and aftermath of Kolping. The basis of the furniture came from the possession of his niece Anna Catharina Kolping (1841 to 1914), the daughter of his brother Wilhelm, who ran Kolping's household and inherited him. She had moved back to Kerpen after the death of her uncle. The shoemaker's workshop (table and tools) built there from the mid-19th century is said to have belonged to Adolph Kolping. The house had already been bought in 1913 by the General Council of the Catholic Journeyman's Association. The furniture was transferred to the Kerpen journeyman association in 1926. The house and museum concept were thoroughly renovated in the Kolping year 2013. A visit is possible free of charge by arrangement with the local Kolping House.

200th anniversary celebration 2013

Kolping's birth town celebrated its 200th birthday with the series of events Kolping comes from Kerpen . In addition, the city was approved to use the name Kolping City Kerpen .

Cycle path

On the initiative of students from the city of Kerpen's grammar school and with the support of the bike-friendly city of Kerpen (since 2012) and sponsors, a 20 km (with an extension of 30 km) long circular route was signposted in the anniversary year, which leads to numerous memorial stations from Kolping's life, which at the same time Sights of the city are.

Honors

  • Adolph Kolping is honored as the namesake of a street (Kolpingstraße, Adolph-Kolping-Straße, Adolf-Kolping-Straße), a path or a square in 1088 locations in Germany (as of December 2014).
  • As part of the redesign of the sculpture program for the Cologne town hall tower in the 1980s, Adolph Kolping was honored with a figure by Dieter Heuft on the fourth floor on the north side of the tower.

Kolping songs

  • Kolping funeral song. Text: Otto J. Lohmann 1881, new version: Ronald Knott; Melody: Friedrich Silcher .
  • S 'was once a good bachelor. Text: Kaspar Berens, melody: folksy
  • One like them, the soul full of bruises. Text: Peter Gerloff ; Melody: Johann Crüger .
  • We are Kolping. Text and melody: Projoe.
  • As a young man he wandered the country. Text and melody: Ludger Stühlmeyer 2015.

Others

  • In 1967 the Kolping community in Dettelbach opened a Kolping and handicraft museum in the Faltertor.
  • One of the first new Intercity Express trains ( ICE 4 ) was named after Adolph Kolping .

See also

Works

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Kolping  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Adolph Kolping  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Adolph Kolping  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Joseph Höffner : Adolf Kolping , 1956, quoted in. n. Kolping . Selected educational writings , obtained from Hubert Göbels, published in Schöningh's collection of educational writings , sources for the history of education, ed. von Th. Rutt, Paderborn, 1964, p. 209
  2. ↑ Real- und Gewerbschule zu Elberfeld Annual report on the school year 1845–1846. P. 18 - Online , accessed October 2, 2013
  3. ↑ Kolping quote in Hanke / Grünewald: In Rom included , p. 5, Echo Buchverlag, Kehl 1991, ISBN 3-927095-08-7
  4. ↑ Steinke: Model for the Church: Adolph Kolping, p. 125 (quotation from Kolping writings 4)
  5. ^ Festing: Adolph Kolping and his work, p. 63
  6. ^ Heinrich Festing: Adolf Kolping and his work. Herder Verlag, Freiburg 1981, ISBN 3-451-19476-7 , pp. 67-71.
  7. ↑ Paul Steinke: Model for the Church: Adolph Kolping. Bonifatius, Paderborn 1992, ISBN 3-87088-683-8 , pp. 91-99.
  8. ↑ Certificate of appointment printed in: Adolph Kolping writings. Cologne Edition, Volume 1, Documents - Diaries - Poems, ed. by Hans-Joachim Kracht , Kolping-Verlag, Cologne 2nd edition 1981, ISBN 3-921425-08-5 , p. 51.
  9. ↑ Birthplace at kolping-koeln.de ( Memento from April 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Bike-friendly Kolping City Kerpen at www.stadt-kerpen.de
  11. ↑ The Kolping Cycle Path ( Memento from September 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 5.6 MB)
  12. ↑ More than 1000 streets bear Kolping's name . In: Church newspaper for the Archdiocese of Cologne , January 9, 2015, p. 49.
  13. ↑ stadt-koeln.de: Sculptures on the fourth floor , accessed on January 15, 2015
  14. ↑ Craftsman and Kolping Museum Dettelbach
  15. ^ Bahn baptizes new trains: An ICE4 named Einstein
personal data
SURNAME Kolping, Adolph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kolping, Adolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic priest
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Kerpen
DATE OF DEATH 4th December 1865
Place of death Cologne