Barbara Pfister

Barbara Pfister from Wattenheim, 1898

Barbara Pfister, contemporary death picture from 1909

Grave of the stigmatized Barbara Pfister, Speyer, 2008

Barbara Pfister (born September 1, 1867 in Wattenheim , † March 9, 1909 in Speyer ) was a mystic and stigmatized .

Life

Barbara Pfister was born in Wattenheim near Grünstadt into a poor family of craftsmen. The father was a carpenter and was called Balthasar Pfister; the mother Margaretha nee Maltry came from Hettenleidelheim and came from the van Recum family .

Even as a child, Barbara stated that she had visions from the life of Jesus. She was an unusually devout child. She often knelt in front of the tabernacle in church . At the age of 17 she entered the Dominican convent in Speyer as a postulant in 1883 . Since she sometimes fainted after receiving communion and had to be carried out of church, she was released from the monastery after three months. Little did the superior at the time know that the reason for these fainting spells were visions. Barbara Pfister first worked as a domestic help in Speyer in order to be able to support her family financially.

On June 30, 1890, the five wounds of Christ and the impressions of the crown of thorns appeared on her body for the first time. Barbara wanted to keep this secret, but only succeeded for a short time. When the stigmata emerged, she faced allegations. However, police and medical investigative commissions could not find any fraud. Her pastors have repeatedly affirmed the integrity of her character.

The attacks and accusations increased, but Barbara endured them patiently. The vicarious atonement for the mistakes of others was her concern. Every year during the Passion and especially on the feast of the Coronation of Thorns, which at that time was still celebrated in the Diocese of Speyer , Barbara had to endure a lot of pain. When her pastor read some passages from the liturgy of the day, it seemed to Barbara as a relief and as "comforting music". From 1896 the stigmatized lived in the care of the Sisters of Charity in Speyer, Engelsgasse. Cathedral Chapter Friedrich Molz was her soul guide, recorded her visions and published a biography about her in 1928. Barbara Pfister died in Speyer on March 9, 1909.

Meaning and adoration

Barbara Pfister is one of the few people in Germany who stated that they had visions from the life of Christ and at the same time bore visible stigmata that were examined and documented. In the Palatinate and the Diocese of Speyer, their case and the phenomena that occurred are unique. The episcopal ordinariate in Speyer therefore set up its own commission in 1938 to collect all testimonies, reports and especially the numerous answers to prayer about the deceased mystic. This material was evaluated for the first time by Cathedral Chapter Nikolaus Lauer and incorporated into a biography of the stigmatized, which appeared in numerous editions from 1939. During the Nazi period and the Second World War, further steps towards beatification were not taken and the process was not started later. Recently, a Barbara Pfister Circle of Friends has been established in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , promoting the veneration of the only Palatine stigmatized. So far, no new steps have been taken by the authorities to prepare for a possible beatification . The pilgrimage to her grave in the Speyer cemetery is unbroken and admirers adorn it with votive tablets , fresh flowers and devotional objects . On the 100th anniversary of Barbara Pfister's death , a memorial service was held on Sunday, March 8, 2009, in the St. Magdalena monastery church , Speyer.

literature

• Friedrich Molz: "Barbara Pfister, a Palatine stigmatized" , Pilger Verlag, Speyer, 1928; Reprint, 2008, Ludwigshafen, Freundeskreis Barbara Pfister.
• Nikolaus Lauer: "Barbara Pfister" , Pilger Verlag, Speyer, 1939 and several post-war editions from 1949
• Karl Blum: "The holy virgin" (Die stigmatierte Barbara (Bawett) Pfister von Wattenheim), Heimatjahrbuch des Landkreis Bad Dürkheim, No. 19 (2001), pp. 152–155.