Alfons Bellesheim

Alfons Bellesheim (born December 16, 1839 in Montjoie ; † February 5, 1912 in Aachen ) was a German church historian and provost at Aachen Cathedral .

Live and act

The son of the pharmacist Wilhelm Bellesheim (1801–1867) and Margarethe, widowed Gierligs, née Dumesnil (1797–1866), first attended the Latin school in Monschau, but then switched to a high school in Düren, where he graduated from high school in 1858. He then studied Catholic theology at the universities of Bonn and Tübingen and attended the seminary in Cologne . After his ordination in 1862, Bellesheim was taken over as chaplain to Santa Maria dell'Anima , where he worked until 1865 and received his doctorate in the last months of his service there in Rome.

After his subsequent return to Germany, Bellesheim got a job as cathedral vicar at Cologne Cathedral and at the same time as secretary of the vicariate general. Due to the Kulturkampf in the 1870s, Bellesheim, who had always confessed to his Archbishop Paulus Ludolf Cardinal Melchers, who had been arrested for political reasons in 1874 , had to give up his offices in Cologne. Thereupon he devoted himself more than 25 years to scientific and theological research and wrote a large part of his publications, including 10 books, 4 brochures, 148 essays and 77 entries in the dictionary. A focus here was his interest in the church history of the British Isles , where he stayed again for three years in Rome in the Vatican Archives to conduct research from 1881 to 1884.

Finally, in 1902, Bellesheim was appointed provost of the Aachen Cathedral, where he focused on restoring it and preparing and organizing the Aachen Shrine Tours in 1902 and 1909. He held this office until his death and has since been honored for his life's work with the honorary title of Apostolic Protonotary .

Belle home had prompted by will that his extensive private library, consisting of approximately 4,000 volumes, mostly church history, including English- and French-language works, and scholastic theology, exegesis, Hymnology and other theological literature after his death, the public Aachen City Library is to transfer .

Alfons Bellesheim found his final resting place in the grave of his parents in the Aachen Ostfriedhof .

Fonts (selection)

• Giuseppe Cardinal Mezzofanti  : A Life Picture from Church History of the 18th and 19th Centuries , Woerl, Würzburg 1879
• The elementary schools in Catholic England , Foesser, Frankfurt a. M. 1882
• History of the Catholic Church in Scotland from the introduction of Christianity to the present day , 2 volumes, Kirchheim, Mainz 1883
• Wilhelm Cardinal Allen and the English seminars on the mainland , Mainz 1885
• History of the Catholic Church in Ireland from the introduction of Christianity to the present day , three volumes, Kirchheim, Mainz 1890/91
• Henry Edward Manning  ; Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster (1808-1892) , Kirchheim, Mainz 1892
• Charles Cardinal Lavigerie , Archbishop of Carthage and Primate of Africa (1825-1892) . In: Der Katholik, magazine for Catholic science and church life , 27th year, issue 3, pp. 248–266 and issue 4, pp. 356–377, Kirchheim, Mainz 1897
• Essays in Der Katholik, magazine for Catholic science and church life
• Essays in the historical-political papers for Catholic Germany

literature

• Hermann-Josef Reudenbach: Provost Alfons Bellesheim (1839–1912) and the book: a contribution to church history and the history of book culture . Libelli Rhenani: Writings of the Archbishop's Diocesan and Cathedral Library on Rhenish Church and State history as well as book and library history , 14th Archbishop's Diocesan and Cathedral Library , Cologne 2006
• August Brecher: A life in the service of science and the Aachen Minster. Provost Dr. Alfons Bellesheim 1839–1912 , in: Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsverein 96, 1989, pp. 209–372
• Ingeborg Schild , Elisabeth Janssen: The Aachener Ostfriedhof , Verlag Mayersche Buchhandlung , Aachen 1991, ISBN 3-87519-116-1 . Pp. 386-388.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Charles Cardinal Lavigerie, Archbishop of Carthage and Primate of Africa (1825-1892), Part 1
2. ^ Charles Cardinal Lavigerie, Archbishop of Carthage and Primate of Africa (1825-1892), Part 2
3. ↑ Selection of articles in Der Katholik, Journal for Catholic Science and Church Life ( Memento of the original from November 10, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
4. ↑ Articles in the historical-political papers for Catholic Germany .