Anton Oehmbs

Anton Oehmbs (also Anton Oehms ) (born September 12, 1735 in the Brandenmühle near Spangdahlem , † February 8, 1809 in Trier ) was a German Catholic theologian and university professor .

Life

Anton Oehmbs was born as the son of Nikolaus Oehmbs from Manderscheid and his wife Anna Katharina Becker in the Brandenmühle, a mill of the Himmerod monastery . On his mother's side he was related to the auxiliary bishop in Trier and witch hunter Peter Binsfeld .

Anton Oehmbs defended sentences from logic and metaphysics in a public disputation on September 13, 1752, chaired by the Jesuit Emmerich Handrich . On September 28, 1752, he was promoted to baccalaureate in fine arts and philosophy .

On December 22, 1752 he received the tonsure and the minor orders .

He was born on September 17, 1756 and sub-deacon on September 24, 1757 deacon in Pen St. Paulin in Trier. He was ordained a priest on September 23, 1758.

On June 19, 1759, he completed his doctorate under Dean Ludwig van an Dr. theol.

He was on February 26, 1764 by the elector-archbishop Johann IX. Philipp von Walderdorff was appointed professor of theology at the University of Trier and held theological lectures on scripture , exegesis and taught oriental languages . With his lectures on the exegesis of the biblical original texts , he broke new ground, because this had been neglected in training until then. Because of his prestigious position, he was appointed dean several times between 1768 and 1771.

In 1767 he became assessor and fiscal officer at the Vicariate General Trier. He was dismissed from office in 1783 due to his expert opinion on the healing of the sick by the Franciscan Father Adam Knörzer.

In 1774, Archbishop Elector Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony forced him to stop his lectures because of his ideas on the doctrine of the Trinity ; However, he remained a member of the faculty as an assessor until the theological faculty of Trier was dissolved by the French in 1798.

After he gave up his teaching post, he became a waiter (administrator) of the Paulinus monastery from 1775 to 1796; During this time he also dealt with the history of the monastery and his records were of historical value as documentation of the news that was still known in the second half of the 18th century.

When Trier was occupied by the French, he did not emigrate, but stayed in Trier and, after the public study of theology was suspended, from 1798 onwards he gave private lectures in his apartment on Brotstrasse .

Anton Oehmbs was also gifted with craftsmanship and drawing and was considered a master carpenter and turner who could create artistic pieces from ivory and metal.

After the establishment of the Trier seminary , he taught there from 1805 to 1807 as a professor of the Old Testament, exegesis and oriental languages.

When he died in Trier, he left his library and other papers to the seminary in his will.

Dispute about the doctrine of the Trinity

Anton Oehmbs' theological views on the doctrine of the Trinity led in 1771 to a conflict with the church's teaching office and the elector-archbishop Clemens Wenzeslaus. In contrast to the prevailing Catholic view, Anton Oehmbs did not see the Trinity as an incomprehensible mystery, but considered it to be rationally justifiable and understandable. In his opinion, this was only possible if the idea of ​​a numerical unity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was given up ( Sabellianism ). He presented his theses in Trier in 1771, but received no printing permission for them. He was also refused a revised version from 1772. A judgment of 1773 requested by the theological faculty in Cologne was negative. Thereupon he turned to Rome and received from there, through the Nuncio , the answer that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was in the habit of not commenting on such non-public cases. The issuing of the permission to print is a matter for the competent ordinariate .

Even after he had to retire as an active teacher in 1774, he completed his investigations into the problem of the Trinity and in 1782 put a handwritten Doctrina catholica de ss. Trinitate inter duas haereses Arianam et Sabellianam pia media to the dean of the theological faculty in Trier, Father Johannes D'Avis (1739–1789), who gave a positive judgment.

In 1785 he received another approving report from the theological faculty in Paris and in 1787 from the dean of the Mainz faculty Franz Christoph von Scheidel (1748-1830). Now he published the Opuscula de Deo uno et trino in Mainz in 1789 . Seventeen sentences of this work with qualifications ranging from "erronea" (fallacy) to "haeretica" (heretical) were rejected in a report of the theological faculty in Cologne requested by the nuncio in 1790. Thereupon Anton Oehmbs asked the curia, before a possible condemnation of his writing, the possibility of a reply to the Cologne report. This was granted on the condition that his defense letter was submitted as a manuscript and that nothing was published in print beforehand. After some hesitation, he accepted this condition and at the end of 1792 completed a 664 folio-page reply to the Cologne report.

The turmoil of the French Revolution initially prevented them from being sent to Rome. It was not until July 1802 that he sent his works, together with the handwritten apology, to Pope Pius VII and asked for a judgment and a possible correction or printing permission. Two years later, the Pope informed him in a letter dated July 14, 1804 that his opinions were in part contradicting the teaching of the Church, but that one would refrain from public condemnation if he signed the form of faith presented. However, the said belief formula was not enclosed with the letter and it did not come into their possession until 1807. Although he still sent various letters to Rome, he did not sign the required formula, but asked for it to be checked again. Nothing had been decided on this matter by the time of his death.

Report on the healing of the sick by the Franciscan Father Adam Knörzer

At the turn of the year 1782/83 the Franciscan Father Adam Knörzer came to Beurig on the Saar and began to heal the sick through exorcisms . He assumed that there were natural and supernatural diseases and that the supernatural could be cured by driving out evil spirits. This led to a large influx of creditors from the surrounding Trier, Luxembourg and Lorraine countries. The Vicariate General in Trier thereupon instructed the Assessor and Fiscal Anton Oehmbs to investigate the matter without instructions from the Archbishop. In July 1783 he went to Beurig and heard some people there (and in Trier) who wanted to be cured. He completed his report on August 4th and submitted it to the Vicariate General. On the same day, however, the archbishop ordered an investigation and requested a report from the vicariate general. Then Anton Oehmbs sent the template to Koblenz . In his report he had reproduced the theological views of Adam Knörzer and not described them as wrong. The statements of the healed were also recorded without comment. In the Archbishop's environment, the remark that "he wished that these strange occurrences had occurred at another time" was felt to be particularly tasteless. After an interrogation of Father Knörzer in Koblenz, Anton Oehmbs was dismissed as assessor and fiscal officer because he had not put a stop to superstition and annoyance. After an objection, the discharge was confirmed and renewed on November 7, 1783.

Honors

On May 10, 1803, he was appointed Dome of Honor and on July 1, 1807, Cathedral Chapter .

Fonts (selection)

• Anton Oehmbs; Georg Carove; Sebastian Camp; Martin Bender : Promotio habita from Antonio Oehmbs in 1764 the 13th decembris, promovente tres patres e societate Jesu . Trier 1764.
• Anton Oehmbs; Franz Joseph Theodor Helling: Theses S. Scripturæ. Augustae Treviror . Eschermann 1765.
• Spiritual design to awaken faith, hope, love, repentance and suffering with purpose. Trier, Eschermann 1767.
• Martyr's sermon or story of the innumerable Trier blood witnesses to Jesus Christ: held on the day of your solemn remembrance, which is celebrated annually, in the S. Paulins Stifts-Kirchen on October 6th . Trier: Eschermann, 1768.
• Collectio Thesium Sacrae Scripturae Juris Divini Quas Juvante Eodem Juris Altefati Sapientissimo Conditore Uno & Trino Deo Instruente Ipsius Perfectissimo Consummatore Jesu Christo Favente Ejusdem Adversus Haereses Potentissima Protectrice Matre & Virgine Maria Assistente Electa Omnium Sanctorum; In usum studentium ex parte reimpresssae . Trier 1770.
• Anton Oehmbs; Quintin Werner; Willibrord Meyers: Theses S. Scripturæ, & Theologiæ Dogmatico-Scholasticæ Quas Jesu Christo Jugi Hostiæ in Ecclesia, Et Sacerdoti In Æternum Secundum Ordinem Melchisedech devotissimè consecratas . Trier 1771.
• Anton Oehmbs; Johann Peter Welther: Concordiæ Evangelistarum, Disputatio I. Quam Juvante Uno Et Trino Deo, Sub Magisterio Jesu Christi, Assistant Electa Sanctorum omnium corona, Reverendissimo, D. Francisco Ludovico LB De Kesselstatt, Domino In Bekond, Türnich, Riwenich & c. Ecclesiarum Metropolitanarum, Moguntinæ & Trevirensis, & ejus per Electoratum Trevirensem ht Pro-Principi & c. & c. Domino Mecænati Perquam Gratioso, Devotissime Consecratam . Trier 1774.
• Anton Oehmbs; Philippus Franciscus Wildericus Nepomucenus de Walderdorff; Aegid Verhelst; Johann Haeffner Erben: Opuscula De Deo Uno Et Trino Ad Genuinam Evangelii doctrinam Et Ecclesiae Traditionem De SS. Trinitate Restituendum Contra Numericae Identitatis Sententiam Et Defendendum Adversus Haereses Ac Quosvis Sanctae Religionis Catholicae Contemptores Et Derisores . Moguntiae Alef 1789.
• Judicium Theologorum Coloniensium De Libro Cui Titulus: Opuscula De Deo Uno Et Trino Ad Genuinam Evangelii Doctrinam Et Ecclesiæ Traditionem De SS. Trinitate Restituendum Contra Numericae Identitatis Sententiam . Coloniæ Agrippinæ Schauberg 1790.
• Rights of the St. Paulin monastery near Trier in the village of Greimerath not far from Zerf, in whose gardens, floods, surrounding forests and districts from the same monastery waiter Anton Oehmbs, Trier, Eschermann 1793.

Unpublished manuscripts:

• Ordo chronologicus summorum pontificum et imperatorum romanorum (synoptic tables from Caesar and Christ (born in the year 5 BC) to 1196/97) (34 pages).
• Disquisitio de die passionis Jesu Christi (unfinished, 181 pages).
• Passio sanctorum martyrum Trevirensium . 1784.
• Multitudo et con () ersatio christianorum inter ethnicos ac sui occultatio persecutionis tempore disquisitae (refers to the secret exercise of the Christian faith at the time of Riktiovarus) (8 pages).
• Collecta ex Breydenbach De Terra Saneta (manuscripts for an edition with annotations) (13 pages)
• Dissertatio de merito creaturae et (first: obligatione actiones ad deum referendi ; then :) ad meritum requisitus (14 pages).
• Announcement of the indulgence (94 pages)
• Negotia universitatis et facultatis theologicae concernentia (contains among other things a draft of new statutes for the faculty (1771) and the university).

literature

• Franz Xaver Kraus:  Oehms, Anton . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, p. 207 f.
• Anton Oehms in Journal for Philosophy and Catholic Theology , Volume 2. Cologne 1841. P. 56 f.
• Anton Oehmbs in The St. Paulin Abbey in front of Trier . Berlin, Walter de Gruyter 1972. pp. 757 f.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Gregor Brand: Anton Oehmbs. Eifel-Zeitung, February 6, 2013, accessed on March 9, 2019 (German). 
2. ↑ 2nd division. Containing the history of the abbeys, monasteries and monasteries. Second volume. The pens and monasteries . Pp. 370-382. Lintz, 1862 ( google.de [accessed March 9, 2019]).