Beata Sturm

Beata Sturm

Beata Sturm (born December 17, 1682 in Stuttgart ; † January 11, 1730 there ) was a pietist from Württemberg . It became known as the Wuerttemberg Tabea based on the benevolent tabea mentioned in the New Testament .

Life

Beata Sturm was the daughter of Brigitta Beata Zeller, married to the senior justice advisor and doctor of both rights Johann Heinrich Sturm, who was a consultant for the landscape . Like her siblings, she was first tutored by a private tutor and learned to read and write. Due to an illness, she already lost her eyesight in her youth, which later could only be restored to a limited extent through several operations. Her father surrendered to the French occupation forces as a hostage on August 8, 1693, and her mother died the following month. After four years the father returned from captivity and from then on taught his children himself, especially in biblical studies. Beata Sturm is said to have read the Bible about 30 times in the course of her life and she also had a good memory for oral lectures. Her father died at the beginning of 1709, after which she lived briefly with Prelate Eisenwein, an acquaintance of her father, in Blaubeuren and from 1713 in the house of her older brother in Stuttgart. In the course of time she also got to know other writings of Luther and particularly appreciated his doctrine of justification .

After putting aside her own needs, she selflessly devoted herself to caring for the poor, sick and widows, whom she supported with food, spiritual assistance and from her own modest fortune from the sale of her parents' inheritance and from solicited donations from richer citizens. She was considered the "benefactress of the city" and died on January 11, 1730 after a short illness.

Beata Sturm remained unmarried and was considered a model of pietistic piety. In her will, she had given half of her remaining fortune to the public poor houses and the other half to her brothers. Georg Konrad Rieger wrote a biography of her around 1730, which was widespread among the Pietists living in Württemberg and in which the name of a Württemberg tabea is attached to her.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, her letters to her cousin had been preserved in print, as was her Bible with the notes she made in it.

swell

• Werner Raupp : Faith in practice. Experiences and life testimonies from our country. A reading book, Metzingen: Ernst Franz-verlag 1993 ( ISBN 3-7722-0226-8 ), pp. 101-104, 386 (popular science sources excerpts , lit.).

literature

• Martin H. Jung: Beata Sturm (1682-1730) , in: Women of Pietism . Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1998, ISBN 3-579-01445-5 , pp. 86-96
• Karl Friedrich Ledderhose:  Sturm, Beata . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, pp. 2-4.
• Karl Friedrich Ledderhose: Beata Sturm, called the Württemberg tabea after her life , Christian association in northern Germany
• Heinrich Merz: Beata Sturmin, called Württemberg tabea , in: Christian women images. Second part . Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1852, pp. 48–74 ( digitized version )
• Werner Raupp :  Sturm, Beata. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 11, Bautz, Herzberg 1996, ISBN 3-88309-064-6 , Sp. 139-141.
• Georg Konrad Rieger : The Württemberg tabea or the strange life of the virgin Beata Sturmin , Stuttgart 1732
• Gisela Schlientz, The Holy and the Feminine Scripture. Testimonies from Württemberg Pietists , in: Herd und Himmel. Catalog for the exhibition at the State Church Museum Ludwigsburg from May 17, 1997 to March 29, 1998, pp. 159–168

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ( Acts 9:36  EU )