Anton de Waal

Prelate Anton de Waal, painting, 1915

Prelate Anton de Waal (center of picture next to the Pope), 1913, with the German Journeyman Association Rome, in audience with Pope Pius X.

Anton de Waal , baptized name Anton Maria , (* May 5, 1837 in Emmerich ; † February 23, 1917 in Rome , ± Campo Santo Teutonico ) was a German Catholic theologian , church historian , Christian archaeologist and science organizer.

Life

Born in Emmerich in 1837 as the son of the businessman Wilhelm de Waal and his wife Helene. van Beeck, born Anton de Waal, graduated from the humanistic high school in his hometown and studied theology in Münster . There he received on October 11, 1862 Bishop Johann Georg Müller the priesthood and worked then as a teacher at Collegium Augustinianum Gaesdonck . The later bishops Hermann Jakob Dingelstad and Adolf Fritzen , his colleagues, were also teachers here.

On July 19, 1868, de Waal was chaplain at the German national church Santa Maria dell'Anima in Rome and received his doctorate in theology on February 19, 1869 . In the summer and autumn of 1870, during the siege and conquest of Rome by the Italian military, de Waal was also a volunteer field chaplain of the papal troops, especially looking after the many German-speaking soldiers among them. From his impressions in this regard, the book The 20th September - Tale from the Siege and Conquest of Rome emerged .

From 1872 the priest served as vice rector and from 1873 as rector of the Campo Santo Teutonico . Appointed papal secret chamberlain in 1875 , in 1876 de Waal gave the Arch Brotherhood of the Sorrowful Mother of God, founded around 1450, a statute and had the church of the brotherhood and the associated German cemetery renovated. He redesigned the brotherhood house into a German priestly college (the Collegio Teutonico ) that still exists today , which, equipped with a special library, put together an important collection of early Christian art.

In addition, de Waal was committed to German pastoral care and German pilgrims in Rome. From 1887 the priest published the Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history in collaboration with the Görres Society, and from 1901 together with Carl Anton Baumstark the Oriens Christianus . His scientific interest was particularly in Christian archeology , so that he supervised the archeology part of the "Roman Quarterly" and in 1892/93 and again in 1915 excavations under San Sebastiano carried out all the catacombs on the Via Appia .

On June 23, 1896, Anton de Waal was appointed papal house prelate and on July 30, 1900, apostolic protonotary . On November 2, 1904, he was appointed Commissioner for the Pastoral Care of All Germans in Italy.

Prelate Anton de Waal, on February 24, 1917, on his deathbed.

In addition to his scientific and pastoral work, the clergyman wrote biographies in German of the popes of his time ( Leo XIII , Pius X and Benedict XV ) as well as historical stories and amateur theater pieces.

He died in Rome in 1917 and was buried on the Campo Santo Teutonico , next to his friend, the Austrian prelate Johannes Montel .

Honors

Anton de Waal was the holder of high orders, a. a. of the Kgl. Prussian Crown Order II. Class, of the Kgl. Prussian Red Eagle Order II. Class, of the Kgl. Bavarian Order of Merit of St. Michael II. Class, the Commander's Cross of the Kgl. Saxon Albrecht Order , the Commander's Cross and the Star for the Commander's Cross of the Austrian Franz Joseph Order , as well as the Pontifical Cross of Merit Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in gold.

Works (selection)

Burial site in Rome (right); center grave of Johannes Montel

• The glorious resting place of the Prince of the Apostles Peter . Festschrift for the Pope Jubilee Pius IX. Pustet, Regensburg 1871. ( digitized version )
• The Holy Father's fighters . Episode from the recent history of the conquest of Rome. Acting in 3 acts. Pustet, Regensburg 1871. ( digitized version )
• Master fair . Acting in 3 acts. Kösel, Kempten 1872. ( digitized version )
• Memories of Rome, first of all the German pilgrims to the 30th anniversary of our Heil. Father Pius IX dedicated . Pustet, Regensburg 1876. ( digitized version )
• Memory of the trip to Rome for the bishop's jubilee of our holy father Pius IX. on May 17, 1877 . Pustet, Regensburg 1877. ( digitized version )
• Our Holy Father Pope Leo XIII. Life . Russell, Münster 1878. ( digitized version )
• The National Foundations of the German People in Rome . Foesser, Frankfurt a. M. 1880.
• Valeria or the triumphal procession from the catacombs . Pustet, Regensburg 1884. ( digitized version )
• The Catacombs of St. Callistus . Pustet, Salzburg 1886.
• The pilgrim to Rome. Guide to the most important sanctuaries and sights of the Eternal City . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1888.
• Tim, the black boy. Acting in 3 acts. For journeyman's clubs and similar. Circles . Schöningh, Paderborn 1889. ( digitized 4th edition )
• Catacombs pictures. 6 stories from the first centuries of the Roman Church . Pustet, Regensburg 1891. ( digitized version )
• The crypt of the apostles ad Catacumbas on the Via Appia. A historical-archaeological investigation based on the latest excavations . Herder, Freiburg 1894. ( digitized version )
• Twenty-five years in Rome from 1870-1895. A picture of Catholic life in the German colony . Foesser, Frankfurt a. M. 1895. ( digitized version )
• The Campo Santo of the Germans in Rome. History of the national foundation for the 1100th anniversary of its establishment by Charlemagne . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1896.
• Pope Pius X. A life picture of St. Father. With a look back at the last days of Leo XIII . Allgemeine Verlags-Gesellschaft, Munich 1903.
• Roma Sacra. The eternal city in its Christian monuments and memories of old and new times . Allgemeine Verlags-Gesellschaft, Munich 1905.
• Constantine the Great built churches in Rome . Breer & Thiemann, Hamm 1913.
• The new Pope. Our Holy Father Benedict XV . Breer & Thiemann, Hamm 1915.

literature

• Thomas Brechenmacher : Ultramontanism in Rome: Anton de Waal and four popes . In: Stefan Heid, Karl-Joseph Hummel (ed.): Papality & Patriotism. The Campo Santo Teutonico: Place of the Germans in Rome between Risorgimento and First World War (1870-1918) (= Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history , supplement 65). Herder, Freiburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-451-38130-0 , pp. 163-185.
• Gisela Fleckenstein:  WAAL, Anton de. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 13, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-072-7 , Sp. 123-125.
• Erwin Gatz : Anton de Waal (1837–1917) and the Campo Santo Teutonico (= Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history , supplement 38). With a list of publications by Anton de Waals compiled by Michael Durst. Herder, Freiburg 1980, ISBN 3-451-19194-6 .
• Erwin Gatz: Anton de Waal (1837-1917). In: Rheinische Lebensbilder. Vol. 9, 1982, ISSN  0080-2670 , pp. 217-226.
• Emil Göller: Prelate Anton de Waal. A sketch of life. Caritas, Freiburg (Breisgau) 1917.
• Stefan Heid , Anna Maria Nieddu: The Platonia of San Sebastiano. Anton de Waal's excavation diary 1892–1893. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history , vol. 103 (2008), pp. 1–54.
• Stefan Heid: Anton de Waal and Paul Styger - a happy collaboration in the service of Christian archeology. In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history , vol. 103 (2008), pp. 55–81.
• Stefan Heid: An overview of Anton de Waal's life and performance . In: Stefan Heid, Karl-Joseph Hummel (ed.): Papality & Patriotism. The Campo Santo Teutonico: place of the Germans in Rome between Risorgimento and First World War (1870-1918) . Herder, Freiburg 2018, pp. 20–47.
• Joseph Massarette: Prelate Anton de Waal and the Campo Santo of the Germans in Rome (= Frankfurt contemporary brochures. Vol. 36, H. 9/10, ZDB -ID 213785-9 ). Breer and Thiemann, Hamm 1917.
• Arthur de Waal: Prelate Dr. Anton de Waal, Rector of the German Campo Santo in Rome, Sr. Holiness Privy Chamberlain and House Prelate, Apostolic Protonotary. Biography. With numerous letters from his estate and several pictures. Badenia, Karlsruhe 1937.

Web links

• Literature by and about Anton de Waal in the catalog of the German National Library