Alois Scheiwiler

Alois Scheiwiler 1907

Johann Alois Scheiwiler (born April 2, 1872 in Gossau in the canton of St. Gallen ; † July 20, 1938 in St. Gallen ) was a Swiss Roman Catholic clergyman and from 1930 to 1938 Bishop of St. Gallen .

Life

Alois Scheiwiler was the son of the carpenter of the same name Alois Scheiwiler and his wife Maria Josepha. He attended grammar school in Einsiedeln and studied theology at the University of Innsbruck and the University of Freiburg . On March 21, 1896, he received his ordination in the monastery of St. Gall and received his doctorate in Freiburg in 1897 to Dr. theol.

After he was cathedral vicar in St. Gallen from 1897 to 1898 , he became rector of the Catholic canton secondary school in St. Gallen in 1898 , before becoming general secretary and central president of the Christian-National Trade Union Confederation of Switzerland from 1904 to 1908 . From 1908 to 1919 he was coadjutor in the parish church of St. Otmar in St. Gallen. In 1919 he was appointed resident canon and from 1919 to 1926 he was cathedral catechist in St. Gallen. This was followed by his work as the parish rector of the cathedral parish from 1926 to 1930.

On October 5, 1930 took place his consecration as Bishop of St. Gallen by the Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli . In 1932 he convened a diocesan synod of San Gaulle for the first time and issued diocesan statutes.

He dealt repeatedly and in detail with the history of the St. Gallen monastery.

Social reform work

Together with the religion teacher Johann Baptist Jung (1861-1922), Alois Scheiwiller built the Christian Social Movement in Switzerland, starting with the establishment of the first Christian Social Workers' Association in St. Gallen in 1899 (which were seen as a social reformist, Catholic alternative to social democracy ) , Unions and health insurance companies . From 1904, also after 1930, he worked as the central president of Christian social organizations in Switzerland and was active as a lecturer, editor of the two bodies of the Catholic workers' association Der Arbeiter and Die Arbeiterin and employee of Christian social magazines, in which he published around 3,000 publications .

Church political activity

Even after his election as bishop, Alois Scheiwiler devoted himself to current issues, for example in 1932 when he took part in a non-denominational rally for the disarmament conference in the Tonhalle St. Gallen . In 1934 he expressed himself negatively to the free money movement of Johannes Ude , who was committed to Silvio Gesell's free economics , which found supporters especially in the Rhine Valley . In 1935 he expressed himself negatively against the accused of heresy diocesan priest Georg Sebastian Huber (1893-1963), who advocated church reforms and ecumenism and from whom Rome put three writings on the index by 1943 because of their critical attitude towards the church hierarchy .

He campaigned for the Catholic abstinence movement and promoted Catholic action inside and outside his diocese.

Alois Scheiwiler was one of the few bishops who took a stand against the anti-Semitism prevailing in Germany and other European countries in the 1930s , so he took a position against racial madness as well as racial and Jewish persecution with several protest publications . In 1938, in his last pastoral letter , he also took a stand against National Socialism , condemning its actions against the churches.

Fonts (selection)

• Abbot Ulrich Rösch, the second founder of the St. Gallen Monastery 1463-1491 . St. Gallen: Zollikofer, 1903.
• The Eucharist in non-ecclesiastical circles in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and the Aquarier dissertation for obtaining a doctorate presented to the high theological faculty at the University of Friborg in Switzerland. Friborg (Switzerland): St. Paulus Printing House, 1904.
• The Stations of the Cross in German art. of the last century . Lucerne: Räber & Cie., 1912.
• Cheers to the Christian Socials !: an illumination of the Christian social workers organizations, their effectiveness and goals . St. Gallen: Verlag Leobuchhandlung, 1916.
• In the struggle for the youth . Einsiedeln, Cöln: Benziger, 1916.
• Paths to Peace: Scriptures for the Catholic People . Einsiedeln: Benziger, 1917.
• The Pope of Peace: shining thoughts from the peace work of Benedict XV. Einsiedeln, Cöln: Benziger, 1917.
• Women's dignity and mother duty . Einsiedeln, Cöln: Benziger, 1917.
• The Riches of the Disinherited or A Path to Social Peace . Einsiedeln, Cöln: Benziger, 1917.
• The happy abstainer . Einsiedeln, Cöln: Benziger, 1917.
• The press, its blessing and its curse: a warning in difficult times . Einsiedeln: Benziger, 1917.
• The Movement for Catholic Popular Education . Lucerne, 1922.
• Prince Abbot Cölestin II., Builder of the st. Gallic cathedral . Einsiedeln, 1923.
• A paradise on earth . Freiburg / Switzerland, Constance, Mainz, Munich, Kanisiuswerk 1930.
• Christianity and Economic Life in the Present . St. Gallen Leobuchhandlung and Christian Social Workers Association of Switzerland 1931.
• Josef Scherrer; Alois Scheiwiler: The rise of the working people . St. Gallen, 1931.
• Dr. Robert Bürkler, the fifth bishop of St. Gallen, 1863–1930 . St. Gallen: Leo bookstore, 1932.
• Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Doctor mellifluus, the honey-flowing teacher . Friborg (Switzerland) Kanisiuswerk 1933.
• Saint Aloisius of Gonzaga . Meitingen near Augsburg: Christkönigsverlag, 1933.
• Alfred Teobaldi ; Alois Scheiwiler: Free money and Catholicism . Zurich, 1934.
• The relationship of Jesus Christ to Judaism . Lucerne: Vita Nova Verlag, 1935.
• The St. Gallen Monastery: The History of a Cultural Center . Einsiedeln: Benziger, 1937.

literature

• Alois Scheiwiler . In: J. Bächtiger: Bishop and Schulmann . Swiss School, Volume 24, Issue 16. 1938.

Web links

• Cornel Dora: Alois Scheiwiler. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bishop Alois Scheiwiler. Catholic-Hierarchy, accessed July 21, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Jung, Johann Baptist. Retrieved July 20, 2019 . 
3. ↑ 80 years of general strike 1918–1998. Cantonal Trade Union Federation of St.Gallen, 1998, accessed on July 21, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Urs Altermatt: Swiss Catholicism in Transition 1945-1990 . P. 101 f. Saint-Paul, 1993, ISBN 978-3-7278-0826-5 ( google.de [accessed July 21, 2019]).
5. ↑ Huber, Georg Sebastian. Retrieved July 20, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Thomas Metzger: Anti-Semitism in the City of St. Gallen 1918-1939 . P. 126. Saint-Paul, 2006, ISBN 978-3-7278-1563-8 ( google.de [accessed July 21, 2019]).

predecessor	Office	successor
Robert Bürkler	Bishop of St. Gallen 1930–1938	Josephus Mile