Augustin Keller (politician)

Augustin Keller

Augustin Keller (born November 10, 1805 in Sarmenstorf , † January 8, 1883 in Lenzburg ) was a Swiss politician from the canton of Aargau and one of the co-founders of the Christian Catholic Church . It is considered to be the trigger for the Aargau monastery dispute and was thus responsible for the abolition of all Aargau monasteries in 1841.

biography

The Keller, who comes from a family of small farmers, attended the Aarau Cantonal School from 1822 to 1825 and then studied philology, pedagogy, history, philosophy and national literature in Munich and Breslau . During his studies in 1827 he became a member of the old Breslau fraternity Arminia . From 1831, Keller worked as a teacher at the grammar school in Lucerne and was director of the Aargau teachers' seminar from 1834 to 1856 (first in Aarau , later in Wettingen ). In this function, he made great contributions to the development of the education system in the canton of Aargau.

However, he was far better known as a liberal-radical politician and as a sharp critic of the Roman Catholic Church (although he was himself a Catholic). In 1835 he was elected to the Grand Council of the Canton of Aargau, of which he was a member until 1856. After a civil war-like conflict between government troops and Catholic rebels in January 1841, Keller described the monasteries as hostile to progress in a speech in the Grand Council and made them responsible for the uprising. The Aargau government then had all the monasteries in the canton closed. The Aargau monastery dispute triggered an international crisis and finally culminated in the Sonderbund War of 1847, which was followed by the establishment of the Swiss federal state a year later.

From 1848 to 1881 Keller was politically active at the national level and belonged almost continuously to the National Council or the Council of States . In 1857/58 he was President of the National Council and in 1871/72 the Council of States . From 1856 to 1881 he was also a councilor of the canton of Aargau (after having held this office for a short time in 1848). He campaigned for full equality for Jews .

In 1870, as President of the Catholic Church Council of Aargau, Keller condemned Pope Pius IX's dogma of infallibility . and called for the formation of an independent Swiss national church during the Kulturkampf . He was one of the founders of the new Christian Catholic Church and was elected the first President of the Synodal Council in 1875 .

Augustin Keller was married to Josephine Pfeiffer (* 1805), the daughter of Michael Traugott Pfeiffer . From 1847 he was an honorary citizen of Olsberg , from 1869 of Aarau and from 1872 of Epiquerez .

Fonts

• Proposed law and commission report to the tit. Grossen Rath on the swearing-in of the Catholic clergy of the Canton of Aargau. Aarau 1835.
• The abolition of the Aargau monasteries. A pamphlet to the high federal classes. Aarau: Sauerländer 1841, Mémoire sur la suppression des Couvens d´Argovie, adressé aux Etats Confédérés. Michel, Delémont 1841.
• Opening speech to the Aarg. Grand Council, held on January 24, 1842 by this year's President A. K. Sauerländer, Aarau 1842.
• About the repeal and expulsion of the Jesuit order in Switzerland. Lecture. Sauerländer, Aarau 1844, French Delisle, Lausanne 1844.
• The moral theology of the Jesuit Father Gury. Sauerländer, Aarau 1869. Second edition there 1869.
• A second gury or Kenrick's moral theology to replace that of the Jesuit priest Gury at the Solothurn seminary. Sauerlander, Aarau 1870.
• The ecclesiastical-political questions during the federal revision of 1871. A memorandum with revision proposals from the executive committee of the people's assembly in Langenthal to the high Swiss federal assembly. Aarau 1871.
• Report of the diocesan delegates to the high government council of the canton Aargau regarding the impeachment of Mr. Eugen Lachat, bishop of Basel. Aarau May 12, 1873
• Files relating to appeals from the Bernese Jura against the expulsion of Catholic clergy. 1874
• In rei memoriam: files on the history of ecclesiastical political and ecclesiastical struggles of the seventies, collected and accompanied by comments. Sauerlander, Aarau 1883.
• Glossaries and notes on the collection of documents “In rei memoriam. Acts on the history of ecclesiastical political and ecclesiastical struggles in the seventies », edited from the literary estate. Aarau 1884
• Poems. Huber, Frauenfeld 1889 ( recommended for publication by Gottfried Keller ).

Counter-responses

• Carl August Keizer: Answer to Dr. A. Keller's writing: "The moral theology of the Jesuit Father Gury: as a textbook at the seminary of the diocese of Basel". Räber, Lucerne 1870.
• Carl Caspar Keizer: The ecclesiastical-political questions in the federal revision of 1871. The proposals, their development and their scope. Räber, Lucerne 1872.

literature

• [Anonymous:] Augustin Keller, the modern moralist. From a Catholic from Aargau. Räber, Lucerne 1870.
• Edgar Bonjour :  Keller, Augustin. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 433 f. ( Digitized version ).
• J. Burkart (Ed.): Augustin Keller in his speeches and confessions. To the centenarium of his birth Nov. 10, 1805. Sauerländer, Aarau 1905.
• Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Volume 3: I-L. Winter, Heidelberg 1999, ISBN 3-8253-0865-0 , pp. 75-76.
• Jakob Hunziker : Augustin Keller. A picture of life dedicated to the Aargau people. Sauerlander, Aarau 1883.
• Arnold Keller (son): Augustin Keller, 1805–1883. A picture of life and a contribution to the patriotic history of the 19th century. Sauerländer, Aarau 1922.
• Béatrice Küng-Aerni: The bridal couple Augustin Keller and Josephine Pfeiffer. In: Annual journal of the Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau , Vol. 11, 2000, pp. 95–162.
• Fridolin Kurmann: Keller, Augustin. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Markus Leimgruber: Political liberalism as an educational experience with Augustin Keller. Lang, Bern 1973.
• Meyer von Knonau :  Keller, Augustin . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 51, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1906, pp. 99-101.
• Martin Rosenberg: The church policy of Augustin Keller. Dissertation Freiburg. Freiburg / Switzerland 1941.
• Karl Schib : Augustin Keller 1805–1883. In: Biographisches Lexikon des Aargau 1803–1957. Edited by the Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau. Sauerländer, Aarau 1958 (also Argovia 68/69), pp. 159–180.
• Karl Schib: Augustin Keller and liberal Catholicism in Switzerland. Augustin, Thayngen 1955 (Schaffhauser Contributions to Patriotic History 32), pp. 199–210.

Web links

Commons : Augustin Keller  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by Augustin Keller in the Gutenberg-DE project ( Auf der Gislifluh and other poems )
• Christian Catholic Church: Augustin Keller