Alfons Kirchgässner (writer)

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Alfons Kirchgässner (born April 3, 1909 in Wiesbaden , † November 29, 1993 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German Catholic theologian , university lecturer , resistance fighter against National Socialism and writer . He also wrote under the pseudonym Gaston Richolet .

Life

Alfons Kirchgässner was on December 8, 1932 in Limburg an der Lahn to priests ordained. After his ordination , he worked in Elz from 1933 to 1935 and then as a chaplain at Frankfurt Cathedral until 1938 . Articles critical of the regime in the Frankfurter Katholische Kirchenzeitung and his commitment to pastoral care for young people had made him the target of the Gestapo since 1935 . He was arrested for the first time in November 1938 and a second time in 1941. He joined the Oratorians and lived in the Leipzig Oratorio from March to September 1939 . He then became a chaplain at St. Leonhard in Frankfurt. In 1942 he received his doctorate at the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg im Breisgau under the New Testament scholar Alfred Wikenhauser with a dissertation on the subject of Christ and sin in Paul . From 1943 to 1945 he worked as a youth pastor in Frankfurt, from 1945 to 1950 there as a pastor at All Saints' Day and from 1950 to 1956 at St. Bernhard . During this time he founded the parish of St. Michael , which he headed from 1954 to 1972 and in whose pastoral care he remained active as a subsidiar until 1984 after his retirement .

In addition, Kirchgässner was a church representative at Hessischer Rundfunk for many years and was one of the speakers for the word on Sunday . At the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts he lectured on the training of church musicians. The Frankfurt Oratorio was created on his initiative in 1956.

He became known nationwide through the youth book Kreuz über Mexico - Erlebnisse und Taten des Miguel Torquemada , published in 1949 by Verlag Herder , a parabolic adventure novel about the Third Reich set in Mexico in 1926 , on which he had worked since 1942 and which he had been working on during the Nazi regime. Dictatorship had distributed chapter by chapter to the parishioners after his sermons . The novel is about the persecution of the Catholic Church after the Mexican Revolution in 1910. It became a bestseller in the 1950s and early 1960s with a total of 13 editions.

He obtained his knowledge of Mexico , which he himself only visited in the 1960s on an episcopal mission , from travel literature . He presented his personal experiences in 1963 in In the Catholic Continent - Notes from a trip through Latin America and in 1964 in Cities - Islands - Continents. Travel diaries from 1931 to 1963 from both a pastoral and socio-economic perspective.

As a theologian, his work focused primarily on the liturgy and its practical renewal. In conformity with the decisions of the Second Vatican Council , but also at a constructively critical distance from them, he sought to realize ecumenism in the Church. Along with Karl Lehmann and Walter Kasper , he was one of the most prominent authors of the programmatic text Christians want their own Lord's Supper (Mainz 1971).

Honors

On May 8, 1992 he was awarded the Johanna Kirchner Medal , with which the city of Frankfurt honored the achievements of citizens in the resistance against the National Socialist dictatorship.

Works

  • Ten letters about prayer . St. Michael Verlag, Munich 1946.
  • Parish and parish services: Contributions to questions of ordinary pastoral care . Herder publishing house, Freiburg i. Br. 1948.
  • Cross over Mexico - Experiences and deeds of Miguel Torquemada . Herder publishing house, Freiburg i. Br. 1949.
  • Salvation and Sin in the New Testament . Herder publishing house, Freiburg i.Br. 1950.
  • Spiritual Glosses, Volume 1 . Josef Knecht Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1953.
  • The incessant conversation. From a spiritual diary . Josef Knecht Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1954.
  • Little Jacob's Ladder, Spiritual Glosses, Volume 2 . Josef Knecht Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1955.
  • Le dialoque ininterrompu - Pages d'un journal spirituel . Descl'ee de Brouwer, Paris 1956.
  • Open Windows - Spiritual Glosses, Volume 3 . Josef Knecht Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1957.
  • Spiritual dictionary . Josef Knecht Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1958.
  • Holy Signs of the Church . Pattloch Verlag, 1959.
  • The mighty signs: origins, forms and laws of the cult . Herder publishing house, Freiburg i. Br. 1959.
  • Repentance as a vital element of the Christian . Verlag Edel 1959.
  • Our divine service - reflections and suggestions. A work book . Herder publishing house, Freiburg i. Br. 1960.
  • Calendar Pages, Spiritual Glosses, Volume 4 . Publishing house Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1961.
  • On the scales of faith. About liturgy, scriptures, Christian life . Verlag Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1962.
  • Unto the Altar - The Practice of Catholic Worship . Herder publishing house, Freiburg i. Br. 1963.
  • In the Catholic Continent - Notes from a trip through Latin America . Josef Knecht Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1963.
  • Cities, islands, continents. Travel diaries 1931–1963 . Josef Knecht Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1964.
  • God's Spirit in the liturgy . Pattloch Verlag, Aschaffenburg 1964.
  • Man in worship . Ara Sacra publisher, Munich 1966.
  • Evidence - Spiritual Glosses, Volume 5 . Josef Knecht Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1966
  • Underage Christians? Encyclical "Humanae vitae": duty of obedience or decision of conscience . Lahn Verlag, Kevelaer 1968, ISBN 3-7840-0520-9 .
  • Trouble with the church. Questions to the upcoming synod . Lahn-Verlag, Limburg 1959.
  • Diagonals . Verlag Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1970.
  • Intercommunion in Discussion and Practice. A documentation . Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf 1971.
  • Conversations with a doubter . Verlag Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1974, ISBN 3-7820-0307-1 .
  • History of Cults and Rites . Area Verlag, Erftstadt 2005, ISBN 3-89996-451-9 .

Under the pseudonym "Gaston Richolet":

  • Dress rehearsal with a saint: variations on a spiritual theme . Real publishing house, Würzburg 1963
  • Church your saints - a not only cheerful almanac . Real publishing house, Würzburg 1970
  • The saint and the nun. Play with a Goethe text . Real publishing house, Würzburg 1982

literature

  • Franz Lomberg: Alfons Kirchgässner. In: The Frankfurt City Youth Pastors 1933–1987. Self-published, Katholisches Bezirksamt Frankfurt, 1987, pp. 23-25 (online)
  • Hans Mann: A youth among despots: memories and reflections. Monsenstein and Vannerdat, 2005, ISBN 3-86582-171-5 , pp. 71-73,
  • Literature lexicon, authors and works in the German language. Bertelsmann Lexikonverlag, Gütersloh 1988–1993.

Web links


personal data
SURNAME Kirchgässner, Alfons
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Richolet, Gaston (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic priest and writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 3, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiesbaden
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1993
Place of death Frankfurt am Main