Anna Maria de Heers

The figure of Anna Maria de Heers on the Cologne town hall tower

Anna Maria Augustina de Heers (* around 1610 ; † 1666 in Cologne ) was a Flemish Ursuline .

Anna Maria de Heers came from a wealthy family. From 1625 she entered the Ursuline convent in Liège as a novice , where her sister also lived. It was there that she wanted to get involved in the education of girls and to found an Ursuline monastery in Cologne , where the namesake of her order, Ursula von Cologne , had suffered her martyrdom . The monastery should be a "bulwark" against the growing Protestantism . In 1638 she and two companions set out on the journey to Cologne, which was very dangerous because of the ongoing Thirty Years' War . On the way, the women's carriage was robbed at least five times, but they were not injured, and they were able to save their money.

In 1639 the three women settled in Cologne with the permission of the Archbishop of Cologne, Ferdinand von Bayern , and began preparations for the founding of the monastery. However, the archbishop did not have to decide on the right of settlement, and the city council spoke out against the presence of the "Ursuline Jungfrawen". In Cologne there was already one monastery, convent or monastery for every 400 inhabitants, and as a result the city suffered tax losses. Anna Maria de Heers and the sisters were not discouraged and began to teach secretly near the church of St. Gereon . They founded a school for rich and one for poor girls. There were conflicts with the devotees who also ran girls' schools. In 1640 they were able to rent the Landscron house on Breite Strasse , but in 1641 they only had "guest and residence rights", which they had to renew every three months and were not allowed to accept new sisters. After moving several apartments, they finally received a permanent residence permit in 1551 and bought the building "zum Ober Lämmchen", an old Capuzinessen monastery on Breite Straße, as their new home.

Anna Maria de Heers died of the plague in 1666 .

From the school activities of the Ursuline Sisters, the Ursuline School emerged in 1858 , the first external girls' school in Cologne that continues to exist.

In 1991 Anna Maria de Heers was included in the figure program for the Cologne town hall tower (No. 56, 2nd floor); the sculpture comes from the Cologne sculptor Paul Nagel .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Stefan Lewejohann (Hrsg.): Cologne in unholy times: The city in the Thirty Years War . Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2014, p. 57 f . ( google.de [accessed on January 10, 2015]).
↑ ^a ^b ^c Hiltrud Kier , Bernd Ernsting , Ulrich Krings : Cologne, the council tower: its history and its program of figures . Ed .: City of Cologne. JP Bachem Verlag , Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7616-0858-6 , p. 498-500 .
↑ Figures on the second floor. In: stadt-koeln.de. City of Cologne, accessed on January 5, 2018 .

personal data
SURNAME	Heers, Anna Maria de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Heers, Anna Maria Augustina de (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Flemish Ursuline
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1610
DATE OF DEATH	1666
Place of death	Cologne

[lewe-1] Stefan Lewejohann (Hrsg.): Cologne in unholy times: The city in the Thirty Years War . Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2014, p. 57 f . ( google.de [accessed on January 10, 2015]).

[ratsturm-2] Hiltrud Kier , Bernd Ernsting , Ulrich Krings : Cologne, the council tower: its history and its program of figures . Ed .: City of Cologne. JP Bachem Verlag , Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7616-0858-6 , p. 498-500 .

[3] Figures on the second floor. In: stadt-koeln.de. City of Cologne, accessed on January 5, 2018 .