Seelgerät
In the Roman Catholic tradition, soul device ( arch. ) Means, with reference to Mt 6 : 19-20 EU, a treasure invested in heaven , that is, a store of good works for the soul that the believer has invested through his deeds in this world . Device has the old meaning "equipment, supply".
Similar ideas already existed in pre-Christian antiquity . In Christianity , the concept and practice developed from the social inheritance law of the church fathers . As a co-heir, Jesus Christ should be used by the rich in their wills and thus part of their bequeathed property should be used for social purposes or the church.
In a narrower sense, Seelgerät describes the legacies to the church that were made in a will in the Middle Ages .
The word serves as a collective term for all pious deeds with which one acquires a treasure in heaven, so-called " good works ", with which various pious achievements are summarized.
The soul device can be created in different ways: through the foundation of an altar with the obligation that the holy mass is regularly celebrated there with the intention of the founder ( altar foundation ), a year (due to a mass grant donated by the church, annually celebrated soul mass ) or through bequests to social institutions.
Like indulgences , it shortens the time of suffering in purgatory .
Beyond provision of Bishop Bernward von Hildesheim
Bishop Bernward von Hildesheim (died 1022) belongs to the group of people whose purpose in life best illustrates what the Seelgerät is about.
As can be seen in his Vita , the Vita Bernwardi (chap. 46), he chose Christ as his heir, more precisely as his sole heir, and thus fulfills the poverty demand of the Gospel of Matthew .
The promotion of the Hildesheim Cathedral , the distribution of alms and the foundation of the Michaeliskloster as a separate burial place , whereby the building, furnishings, altars and tombs are completely designed to save his soul , can be regarded as calculated afterlife.
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedrich Kluge : Etymological dictionary of the German language , keyword device
literature
- Peter Jelzer: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory. The beyond in the Middle Ages , Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag 1994. ISBN 3-7705-2964-2