Ambros Oschwald

Ambros Oschwald

Ambrose Oschwald (* 14. March 1801 in Unadingen , today part of Löffingen ; † 27. February 1873 in St. Nazianz ) was a German Roman Catholic priest and leader of a group of emigrants from the Black Forest, in Wisconsin , the colony St. Nazianz founded.

Life

Ambros Oschwald was born on March 14, 1801 in Lochmühle in Unadingen. After his studies and ordination in 1833, he worked in various parishes in the southern Black Forest , where he was popular because of his piety. In 1842, as a pastor in Hammereisenbach-Bregenbach (today a district of Vöhrenbach ), because of the claim to also heal the sick, he got into a conflict with the secular and ecclesiastical authorities, which led to Oschwald being transferred to other parishes several times by the Archbishop of Freiburg. When in 1848/49 the conflicts over his mystical and prophetic- chiliastic writings escalated and Oschwald was threatened with suspension, the idea of ​​emigrating to the USA arose . A longer study vacation in Urach in 1849/50 did not provide a solution.

In October In December 1850 Oschwald, meanwhile pastor in Hofsgrund , was suspended , but remained in the rectory until March 1852. He then moved to Munich to study medicine. Pushed by his supporters in the Black Forest, however, he returned in April 1854 and headed a group of 113 supporters who emigrated to America. There they founded an early Christian communist colony in St. Nazianz in the state of Wisconsin that same year.

literature

• Johannes Werner: Father Ambros Oschwald . Regional culture publishing house, Ubstadt-Weiher 2014. ISBN 978-3-89735-830-0

Web links

• Johannes Werner: "Father Oschwald" or: A shepherd and his flock move to the New World . In: Writings of the Association for History and Natural History of the Baar. Vol. 41, pp. 192-197.
• Hubert Driver : Waiting for the End of the World at the End of the World: Millenarianism Miles from Nowhere. St. Nazianz, Wisconsin .