Aloys Weisenburger

Pastor Aloys Weisenburger, the Palatinate "calendar man". He is holding one of his house calendars in his hand.

Aloys Weisenburger (born August 15, 1815 in St. Martin , † October 21, 1887 in Hambach ) was an important priestly figure of the 19th century in the diocese of Speyer ; famous preacher, writer and publicist. Because of the many years of publishing his house calendar, he is also known as the “Palatinate Calendar Man”.

Life

Aloys Weisenburger was born the son of a winemaker in St. Martin, as he himself wrote: "In a family that is not famous but pious and religious." He attended grammar school in Speyer , studied theology in Munich and finally entered the clerical seminar (seminary) Speyer a. On December 21, 1839, he was ordained a priest from Bishop Johann Jakob von Geissel , who later became Cardinal-Archbishop of Cologne.

Weisenburger first came to Landau as a chaplain , then to Winnweiler to relieve the ailing local pastor Dumont. After his death in 1841, he took over the administration of this parish. During the Christmas season of 1841, his parishioners asked the bishop in writing to leave the young priest there as pastor, since “It is Weisenburger to whom the entire Catholic parish is devoted with heart and love, and whom it wants and must wish as future pastor because he is a loyal worker in the Lord's vineyard. ”In January 1842, the bishop replied that Speyer was delighted with the respect and trust shown by the parish chaplain Weisenburger, but that his appointment as a pastor was out of the question because he has only been consecrated for two years and has not yet passed the parish exam. On August 31 of that year, Weisenburger went to Blieskastel as chaplain and second teacher at the Latin school there . In 1848 he received his first pastor's position in Klingenmünster , in 1850 he became pastor in Frankenthal and in 1858 finally pastor of Hambach, where he worked "with all understanding, love and devotion" until his death, as his obituary stated. Aloys Weisenburger died in Hambach on October 21, 1887 and was buried three days later in the local cemetery.

Act

Anyone who looks at the only surviving photo of Pastor Weisenburger recognizes even today - after 150 years - from the physiognomy that he has an extremely distinctive and energetic personality in front of him. Nikolaus Redelberger, at the time the oldest priest in the diocese († 1949) met Weisenburger in 1878 and characterized him as follows from memory:

“ A stately appearance, or as people like to say today, he was of great stature. A strong, imposing figure, above the average, could not easily be overlooked, but rather immediately attracted the attention of the colleagues in office. A certain sovereign superiority had developed in his face, which, however, did not appear demanding, but was carried by a philanthropic benevolence. A certain self-confidence could not be mistaken for him, but this did not seem repulsive, but rather trustworthy. His speeches, advice and admonitions were often crude and massive, far removed from licorice rasps and adornment, but they were honestly and sincerely well-intentioned and were therefore willingly received and heeded. "

- Pastor Nikolaus Redelberger

Two special features made Aloys Weisenburger stand out above his confreres: He was a powerful and valued preacher whose sermons were also considered "notorious" because of their length. He was also active as a folk writer and published his national calendar for about 20 years.

Regarding his way of preaching, " The Pilger ", 1887, in the obituary, and others. a. As follows: "When it was a matter of scourging abuses, such as the Sunday desecration, then he stood there like an angry Moses, gathering the good around him, strengthening the wavering, angering the wicked." His sermons were valued because of their persuasive power and the vivid, popular language. At the inauguration of the extended parish church in Burrweiler, on September 25, 1867, he is said to have preached freely for one and a half hours, which is why the service was enormously protracted and "the bishop shook his health with colds." Nevertheless, he was called out again and again Guest sermons, because you always put in honor with your sermons and your imposing appearance. At the dedication of St. Mary's Church in Neustadt on August 26, 1862, Pastor Bernhard Magel asked him to preach to Bishop Nikolaus von Weis , King Ludwig I and Archduchess Hildegard of Austria . Several of his homilies later appeared in print. Pastor Weisenburger was also friends with the founder of the order, Prelate Jakob Friedrich Bussereau , and gave him the primary sermon.

Aloys Weisenburger published his widely used “Calendar for Time and Eternity” as early as 1850. At that time, these calendars were mainly sold by peddlers and saw enormous sales. For many families, the annual house calendar was the only reading one had in the house during this time. The so-called “Aderlaßmännchen” appeared with the calendar as a supplement with medical and hygienic advice. In addition to the calendar information, these writings contained many edifying stories and poems that were read or read out in the families. Weisenburger didn’t save with crude sayings, as you can see from the frequently changing subtitles. One of them was called something like: “Calendar with some fun, peppery gifts, for boys, women, men and old maids.” Weisenburger's calendar appeared in around 20 years and sometimes reached a circulation of 50,000 copies. In 1855 he had the most beautiful essays from it appear in book form under the title “Home cooking for the healthy, home remedies for the sick, given to the whole people by Aloys Weisenburger, pastor of Frankenthal”. In 1863 the enriched new edition “New Home Cooking” appeared. The books found huge sales and were u. a. also translated into Dutch and English. They were widespread among Germans in America because they were reprinted under license in Cincinnati .

Weisenburger became known nationwide through his house calendar. A memorial plaque in the Hambach cemetery today keeps the memory of the extraordinary man alive. Jakob Bisson dedicated a separate chapter to him in 1956 in his book "7 Speyer Bishops and their Time"; the "Pilgrim Calendar 1987" (yearbook of the Speyer diocese) brought a large commemorative article on the 100th anniversary of his death.

literature

• "Palatina" (home pages of the "Pfälzer Zeitung" Speyer): "An intrepid Palatinate calendar writer" , in No. 8, from February 26, 1926
• Jakob Bisson : "Seven Speyer bishops and their time" . Pilger Publishing House. Speyer 1956.
• Viktor Carl: Lexicon of Palatinate personalities . Hennig Verlag, Edenkoben, 2004, ISBN 3-9804668-5-X , pages 930-931
• Ferdinand Schlickel: "Strengthening the wavering - On the 100th anniversary of the death of the Hambach pastor Aloys Weisenburger, folk writer and calendar man" , Pilgrim calendar Speyer (yearbook of the diocese), 1987.

Web links

• General book lexicon 1863, with brief reviews of Weisenburger's calendars for the years 1858 - 1862