Alfons Heun

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Alfons Heun OCist , Portuguese Abade Dom Alfonso Kiliani Heun (born July 17, 1898 in Lahr ; † June 28, 1984 in Dernbach ) was a German Cistercian , abbot and founder of several monasteries of the order in Germany and Brazil as well as the author of several theological works of the Roman Catholic Church .

Life

The building of the department store Heun, birthplace of Alfons Heun

Kilian Heun was born as the son of the Lahr merchant Adam Heun. After attending the Lahr elementary school, he switched to the Cistercian boarding school at the Marienstatt monastery . Kilian Heun joined the Cistercian order and took his vows on January 31, 1920 . He chose Alfons as his religious name . After joining the order, he studied theology and philosophy . On June 16, 1924, he was ordained a priest by Augustinus Kilian , Bishop of Limburg .

Church of the Marienstatt Monastery

The home monastery of Alfons Heun was the Marienstatt monastery. This was not repopulated until 1888/90 from the Mehrerau monastery after the culture war between the Roman Catholic Church and the Kingdom of Prussia was settled . Due to the high proportion of Swiss citizens in the convent , the Marienstatt monastery in Prussia was considered an ultramontanist institution.

In 1927 Alfons Heun was elected the founding priority of the Hardehausen Monastery, which had been repopulated by Marienstatt . After Hardehausen was raised to the status of an independent monastery, Alfons Heun was elected the first abbot of the monastery on October 10, 1933. The benedication took place on December 10, 1933, the feast of the Immaculate Conception , in Marienstatt by Franziskus Janssens , Abbot General of the order, under great Sympathy of the population. Alfons Heun came increasingly into conflict with the National Socialists . This finally led to the abolition of Hardehausen Monastery by the government in 1938. He then looked for a way to leave the country. At the mediation of Superior Augusta of the Chain Castle CJ , he was given the opportunity to get a pastoral position in São José do Rio Pardo in Brazil.

The building of the Hardehausen-Itatinga monastery

Alfons Heun emigrated to São José do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, in 1939. In this Brazilian state, the Himmerod Monastery founded the Itaporanga Monastery in 1936 . Himmerod was only repopulated by the Marienstatt monastery in 1922. In São José do Rio Pardo , Alfons Heun tried to build a church in honor of Rochus de Montpellier . This was worshiped by the predominantly Italian immigrants as an emergency aid against yellow fever . This church formed the basis of the Cistercian Abbey of São José do Rio Pardo ( Nossa Senhora de São Bernardo ), which was canonically founded in 1943. However, after the decision of the Cistercian Order, the monastery was subordinated to the Monastery of San Bernardo alle Terme in Rome . On June 19, 1949, Alfons Heun solemnly handed over the keys to the monastery to the new abbot.

Alfons Heun had been a priest in the parish of Mairinque , São Paulo, since 1940 . Here he initiated a comprehensive renovation of the parish church.

In the following years he continued efforts to found a new monastery. In this he was supported by Henrique Golland Trindade OFM , Bishop of Botucatu . At the mediation of Athanasius Merkle , the abbot of Itaporanga, he offered the parish of Itatinga as the starting point for the foundation of the monastery. With the support of numerous donors, the Assumption of the Virgin Monastery ( Mosteiro de Nossa Senhora da Assunção de Itatinga ) was founded here. The foundation took place on May 16, 1951 and thus on the same day as the founding of the Hardehausen monastery in 1140 and 1927. The foundation stone of the building was laid on August 16, 1951 by Bishop Henrique Golland Trindade. The founding convention essentially consisted of the monks who had fled from Hardehausen and who re-elected Alfons Heun as abbot. At his endeavor, the canonical rights of the former Hardehausen monastery were transferred to the monastery. The monastery then renamed itself Hardehausen-Itatinga Monastery.

For health reasons , he resigned from the office of abbot in 1957 and returned to Germany. He then worked as a pastor in the Vinzenz Hospital in Kerpen near Cologne until 1967 . On the occasion of his silver jubilee abbot in 1958, his home community Lahr in the Westerwald made him an honorary citizen. Here on May 7, 1964, he laid the foundation stone for the new construction of St. John's Church . From 1967 to 1978 he was a priest in the Cistercian convent Lichtenthal in Baden-Baden . He then lived again in the Marienstatt monastery until his death. He died in the nearby Dernbach hospital and was buried in the monastery cemetery.

The Abt-Heun-Straße in Lahr (Westerwald) and the Rua Dom Alfonso Heun in Itaporanga (São Paulo) are named after him.

Works

  • Altar and life. Paderborn: Schöningh, 1935
  • School for the service of the Lord. Kevelaer / Rhld: Butzon & Bercker, 1963
  • The abbot in the conception of Saint Bernhard , in: Marienstätter collected essays. Festschrift for the 750th anniversary of the founding 1212–1962. Marienstatt Abbey (Ed.), 1962

literature

  • Heinrich Nonn: He was an honorary citizen of the community of Lahr (Part I), in: Waldbrunner Nachrichten 14/2013, pages 10–11
  • Heinrich Nonn: He was an honorary citizen of the community of Lahr (Part II), in: Waldbrunner Nachrichten 15/2013, pages 15-17

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg: Standesamt Lahr birth secondary register 1898, page 20; Lahr 1898 (HStAMR Best. 912 No. 2731) [1] (Accessed September 15, 2013). The date June 17, repeatedly given in the literature, is therefore incorrect.
  2. ↑ See. also: Hermann Josef Roth : Attempts to revive the Eberbach monastery . In: The Hessian Minister for Agriculture and Forests, Freundeskreis Kloster Eberbach eV (Hrsg.): Eberbach im Rheingau . Cistercian - Culture - Wine. The Hessian Minister for Agriculture and Forests, Wiesbaden / Eltville 1986, p. 131-134 .
  3. ↑ PADRES NA CIDADE. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 18, 2016 ; accessed on February 18, 2016 .
  4. ^ Athanasius Merkle in the Biographia Cisterciensis , version of July 15, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Hey, Alfons
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heun, Abade Dom Alfonso Kiliani (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Cistercian monastery founder and theologian
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Lahr
DATE OF DEATH June 28, 1984
Place of death Dernbach